WASHINGTON (AP) — Trump administration officials told congressional staff in private briefings Sunday that U.S. intelligence did not suggest an imminent threat from Iran or that it was preparing to launch a preemptive strike against the U.S., two people familiar with the briefings said.
The administration officials instead acknowledged there was a more general threat in the region from Iran’s missiles and proxy forces. They also did not provide any
clarity about what would happen next in Iran after the joint U.S.-Israeli operation, said the people, who insisted on anonymity to discuss details that have not been made public.
The information conveyed to the congressional staff contrasts with the message from President Donald Trump. “Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime. A vicious group of very hard, terrible people," he said in a video message after launching strikes on Iran.
Senior Trump administration officials, who like others were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, had told reporters on Saturday that there were indicators that the Iranians could launch a preemptive attack.
The White House and Pentagon did not immediately reply to requests for comment on Sunday night. Details of the briefing were first reported by Politico.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA director John Ratcliffe and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan Caine will brief the full membership of Congress on the U.S. military operation against Iran on Tuesday, the White House said Sunday. Rubio also was slated to brief Hill leadership on Monday.
The military operation on Iran came after authorities from Israel and the U.S. spent weeks tracking the movements of senior Iranian leader, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and shared information that allowed the strikes to be carried out in a surprise daylight attack, according to an Israeli military official and another person familiar with the operation.
The eventual barrage of U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran came so quickly that they were nearly simultaneous — with three strikes in three locations hitting within a single minute — killing Khamenei and some 40 senior figures, including the head of the Revolutionary Guard and the country’s defense minister, the Israeli military official said Sunday.
The official said that a variety of factors created a golden opportunity to take out much of Iran’s leadership, like weeks of training and monitoring the movements of senior figures as well as intelligence in real-time before the attack began that key targets were gathered together.
Striking by day also gave an additional element of surprise, said the official, who said that so many major, rapid-fire strikes were critical to keep key officials from fleeing after the first strike. The official said Israel closely cooperated with its U.S. counterparts and had used a similar tactic at the beginning of last June’s war — which resulted in the killing of several senior Iranian figures.
The official also noted Khamenei having posted defiant tweets taunting President Donald Trump in the days before the attack.
The details about the strikes came as the conflict entered its second day, with Trump saying in a video message Sunday that he expected it would continue until “all of our objectives are achieved.” He did not spell out what those objectives were.
The Republican president also said the U.S. military and its partners hit hundreds of targets in Iran, including paramilitary Revolutionary Guard facilities, Iranian air defense systems and nine warships, “all in a matter of literally minutes.”
Before the attacks, the CIA had for months tracked the movements of senior Iranian leaders, including the country’s supreme leader.
The intelligence was shared with Israeli officials, and the timing of the strikes was adjusted in part because of that information about the Iranian leaders’ location, according to a person familiar with the planning.
The intelligence-sharing between U.S. and Israel reflects the preparation that went into the strikes, which continued for a second day Sunday after Khamenei's killing threw the future of the Islamic Republic into uncertainty and raised the risk of escalating regional conflict.
The U.S. regularly shares intelligence with allies including Israel. Those partnerships, and the accuracy of the intelligence they yield, is often critical not only to the success of a military operation but also to the public's support for it.
Virginia Sen. Mark Warner, the senior Democrat on the committee, told The Associated Press that, historically, “our working relationship with the Mossad and Israel is really strong.” Mossad is the Israeli spy agency.
Warner said he has serious concerns about the justification for the strikes, Trump’s long-term plans for the conflict and the risks that U.S. service members will face. The military announced that three American troops had been killed in the Iran operation.
“No tears will be shed over their leadership being eliminated, but always the question is: OK, what next?” Warner said.
A senior White House official said Iran’s “new potential leadership” has suggested it is open to talks with the United States. That official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal administration deliberations, said Trump has indicated he’s “eventually” willing to talk but that for now the military operation “continues unabated.”
The official did not say who the potential new Iranian leaders are or how they made their alleged willingness to talk known. Separately, Trump told The Atlantic that he planned to speak with Iran’s new leadership.
“They want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them,” he said Sunday, declining comment on the timing.
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Federman reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee, Will Weissert and Ben Finley contributed to this report.
