Senior US intelligence officials have told lawmakers that Iran’s governing system remains in place but has been significantly weakened by recent military strikes, offering the first public assessment since the conflict escalated. During a congressional hearing, Tulsi Gabbard said the Iranian regime was “intact” but “largely degraded” following attacks on its leadership and military infrastructure.

Leadership under pressure

Her remarks came as she appeared alongside senior figures including John Ratcliffe and heads of other intelligence agencies to outline global threats facing the United States.

Gabbard noted that damage inflicted during recent strikes had weakened Iran’s operational capacity, particularly in its military and command structures. However, she indicated that the core governing system continues to function.

The hearing marked the first time US intelligence leaders have publicly addressed the situation since the war began in late February.

Dispute over ‘imminent threat’

The session also highlighted divisions within the US government over whether Iran posed an immediate danger prior to the conflict.

Gabbard declined to directly answer questions from Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff about whether she had assessed Iran as an imminent threat before the strikes. Instead, she said that determination ultimately rests with the president.

Her position contrasted with comments from Joe Kent, who resigned a day earlier. In his resignation letter, Kent stated that Iran had not presented an imminent threat to the United States and criticised the decision to go to war.

Ratcliffe disagreed with that assessment, telling lawmakers that Iran had long posed a danger and represented an immediate threat at the time of the strikes.

Nuclear programme and military damage

Gabbard said US and Israeli operations had “largely destroyed” Iran’s military capabilities and inflicted serious damage on its nuclear infrastructure.

She added that intelligence agencies believe Iran is attempting to recover from that damage but continues to fall short of its international nuclear obligations.

In prepared remarks, she had initially described Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme as “obliterated,” though she did not include that wording in her spoken testimony. When questioned by Senator Mark Warner, Gabbard said time constraints led her to shorten her statement.

Strait of Hormuz concerns

Officials also confirmed that US intelligence had long anticipated the risk of Iran targeting the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global shipping route.

Gabbard said the intelligence community had assessed that Iran would likely attempt to disrupt traffic through the waterway in the event of conflict. She added that the Pentagon had taken precautionary steps based on those assessments.

Ratcliffe told lawmakers that the president receives regular intelligence briefings and that military planners had prepared for potential attacks on US-linked energy infrastructure across the region.

Ongoing scrutiny

Lawmakers from both parties used the hearing to question the intelligence basis for the war and the extent to which officials were involved in decision-making.

Senator Angus King asked whether intelligence leaders were present when final decisions were taken, though Ratcliffe said he could not point to a single defining moment.

The hearing comes amid continuing debate in Washington over the justification for the conflict and its wider implications, as well as concerns about escalating tensions in the region.

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Adapted by ASEAN Now. Source 19 March 2026

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Her remarks could just as easily apply to Trump's diminishing capacity IMHO.

Gabbard just destroyed her political career.

US intelligence chief says Iran leadership weakened but still functioning

Sure - it will fall tomorrow and the United States can steal all of Iran's oil. To the invaders go the spoils of war.....if they win.
If they don't? Their voters throw them under the bus and implement "regime change" at the ballot box.

Tanned Tfu proclaims victory, well, victory tomorrow, ok next week possibly next month, BUT WE'VE ALREADY WON, surely it will be finished by September. And we don't need anyone's help, but perhaps someone can help us get the Straits open like Estonia and Lithuania, come-on, be like Estonia and Lithuania and send an armada to open the Straits - we'll let you show your bravery by allowing you to be the first to attack!!! No??? Well I don't need your help - I've already won!!! I'm the most POWERFUL leader in history, braver than anyone, the bravest of brave...and powerful. LOOK OVER THERE! The DOW is at 50,000!!! 48,400, 47,300, 46,222 - IT WILL BE 60,000 NEXT MONTH!!! (and on and on and on and on and on........)

While loathing the regime in Tehran, and while believing the world would be a much happier place without it, I just don't see how bombing alone is going to get red of it. That will require a large number of military boots on the ground to flush it out.

She wrote that the 2025 strikes obliterated the Iranian nuclear program and that iran hadn't restarted it

So Rubio was right,

Israel started this war as soon as Oman announced Iran's agreement to give up their 60% enriched Uranium - Israel wants to destroy Iran, the Uranium is an excuse. Killing Iran's leaders just ensures the war wouldn't end quickly. Israel is now busy trying to destroy Iran's infrastructure, they want a dysfunctional state like in Syria and Lebanon (also Israel's doing). Israel has a long history of assassinating any of their enemies who try to make peace deals with the USA. Total Middle-east hegemony is Israel's aim.

They will say anything at this point, the reality is that there are over 150,000 members of the IRG and 200,000 members of the National Defense Forces, and that does not include local, regional, and state law enforcement.

This popular uprising from the Iranian population just does not seem to be manifesting itself, like the blazing idiots Netanyahu and Trump predicted.

It would appear that neither of them read very much in the way of history, as no regime change has ever been accomplished without boots on the ground in modern history. And even many of those regime changes have simply resulted in decades of chaos, such as we see in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Algeria and Egypt to name just a few.

The levels of stupidity, mindlessness, recklessness and lack of planning on the part of these two pathological nimwits boggles the mind.

23 hours ago, connda said:

Gabbard just destroyed her political career.

She never had one.

6 minutes ago, spidermike007 said:

They will say anything at this point, the reality is that there are over 150,000 members of the IRG and 200,000 members of the National Defense Forces, and that does not include local, regional, and state law enforcement.

This popular uprising from the Iranian population just does not seem to be manifesting itself, like the blazing idiots Netanyahu and Trump predicted.

It would appear that neither of them read very much in the way of history, as no regime change has ever been accomplished without boots on the ground in modern history. And even many of those regime changes have simply resulted in decades of chaos, such as we see in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Algeria and Egypt to name just a few.

The levels of stupidity, mindlessness, recklessness and lack of planning on the part of these two pathological nimwits boggles the mind.

Israel's primary goal was to destroy the Iranian nuclear capability. By inflicting expense and discomfort on the country, it would force the Iranian administration to decide between food and civil continuity and the continued diversion of resources to its nuclear program. Israeli and US planners are most likely hoping that they can delay the nuclear program for another 5 years or more.

Regime change is for public consumption. Only the Iranians can do that.

There will be American boots on the ground the fact that Trump said there won't be more or less guarantees it.

Then there is the fact that the Pentagon has asked for $200 billion dollars plus Netanyahu has more or less confirmed that the air campaign alone will not achieve Israels goal of regime change & crushing Iran.

Israel does not have the manpower to invade Iran alone so Netanyahu is buttering Trump up by saying nobody can tell the President of the USA what to do when everybody can see he is leading Trump by the nose like some prize bull in an arena.

P.S. This is another war that is going to cost the US dearly both in terms of money, human suffering deaths and ultimately humiliation.

1 hour ago, Thingamabob said:

While loathing the regime in Tehran, and while believing the world would be a much happier place without it, I just don't see how bombing alone is going to get red of it. That will require a large number of military boots on the ground to flush it out.

Correct but bombing can take out the military to such an extent it's barely functional and can also take out leadership both government and IRGC to such an extent it's run by lower and lower ranked people and fractures form from within. Add to this the control of Kharg Island (looking more likely) and hence control of Iranian's primary oil export facility and the fractures might form more rapidly with some looking for a way out. There is no need for large scale "boots on the ground" and IMO this won't happen. Kharg Island and on the coastline to secure the strait is where the MEU will be heading. Yes, it's still "boots on the ground" but it's far from full scale.

24 minutes ago, dinsdale said:

There is no need for large scale "boots on the ground" and IMO this won't happen. Kharg Island and on the coastline to secure the strait is where the MEU will be heading. Yes, it's still "boots on the ground" but it's far from full scale.

Thats how it starts Vietnam started with just a few "military advisers" that grew to 16,000 "military advisors" followed by combat troops 184,000 by 1966, and 536,000 by 1969. The US had total air supremacy and overwhelming firepower, dropped 3 times the total amount of bombs in WW2 won every battle.

The Viet Cong mainly relied on guerrilla/ terrorist tactics there was no way they could compete against the US/South Vietnam forces as far as military hardware or ordnance yet we all know who won that war.

Iran is hardly going to just sit back and allow the US or Israel to land on its soil without doing anything about it.

Bodybags returning to the US would likely evaporate any support there may be in the US at the moment which doesn't appear to be all that high anyway. That could prompt the US to withdraw from Iran altogether in fact support for Israel could even evaporate leaving it in a very vulnerable position.

The US is making the same mistakes and flawed assumptions it did in Vietnam.

Vietnam didn't really affect the rest of the world outside of the participants and region this time its affecting a very large proportion of the world energy supplies.

Calling this another Vietnam is interesting. Going onto three weeks in and Iran's defensive system is pretty much nonexistent, navy's been sunk, IRGC navy now taking a hammering, air force is basically gone, missile and missile launchers plus drones severely depleted, military industries being flattened and top echelon leaders taken out. This is three weeks in. Another Vietnam?

I should imagine no vote will suit many members of Congress as they are not forced completely to show there hand ( both sides) so if it goes pear shaped not there fault. I say have this vote show your constituents your first allegiance is to them or Israel and fear of upsetting Trump 😡

4 hours ago, dinsdale said:

Calling this another Vietnam is interesting. Going onto three weeks in and Iran's defensive system is pretty much nonexistent, navy's been sunk, IRGC navy now taking a hammering, air force is basically gone, missile and missile launchers plus drones severely depleted, military industries being flattened and top echelon leaders taken out. This is three weeks in. Another Vietnam?

If the war continues it will all depend on whether other countries are prepared to support Iran and for how long.

There are numerous similarities between the present US–Iran war and the US–Vietnam war I don't have time to list them all but a quick google will show some of them what is clear is this I turning into a war of attrition Iran is not surrendering and is striking back I'm sure the economic damage is far worse than Trump could of imagined if he even gave it a thought at all.

During the Vietnam war air defences were destroyed planes were destroyed but they were replaced. North Vietnam and the VC were being supported and supplied by the Soviet Union & China without them becoming directly involved. The same could happen again.

Iran is a large country with a population of 90 million Israel is a small country with a population of 10 million, without America backing them they are fairly insignificant and they're not exactly on the best of terms with their neighbours.

I don’t doubt most of Iran’s air defence has been destroyed and their missiles and drones depleted but they can be replaced so can air defences.

I’m sure countries like Russia, China, North Korea, Pakistan would love to know just how well their air defence systems work against the latest American weapons, the feedback and data would be invaluable.

Pakistan shares a 600-mile border with Iran, at the moment its walking a tightrope doesn’t want to upset the USA Saudi/Gulf States or Iran but both Iran & Pakistan are Islamic Republics and if they are forced to choose, I feel sure they would side with Iran.

Iran has the expertise to build more missiles and drones if building them in Iran proves to be too vulnerable, they could move production to another country. Ukraine for instance is manufacturing drones in the UK.

Trump has opened a whole can of worms and its going to be a lot harder to put the lid back on.

It’s very hard to see any benefit at all for the US in all this. The only country that stands to benefit is Israel.

There is a large Jewish lobby in the US and the UK as well. Perhaps Netanyahu and the Jewish lobby persuaded Trump it would be a good idea.

Personally what I'm hoping is for the US to withdraw and Trump can boast about how he won a war.

The reality is the war will not have been won Iran will massively rearm and Israel will be even more vulnerable. It wouldn't even surprise me if Iran directly attacks Israel or supports clearing the West Bank of Israeli settlers most likely by proxy but could assist with missile strikes etc. Anything to make Israel pay especially if Iran feels they have the right to operate the same way the IDF does with total disregard to collateral damage or the lives of innocent civilians.

I would also expect Iran to carry out assassinations like the IDF does in retaliation, Netanyahu has to be top of the list.

Next time the US will want to stay well clear now they have a better idea of the consequences there is nothing in it for them.

13 minutes ago, Bannoi said:

If the war continues it will all depend on whether other countries are prepared to support Iran and for how long.

There are numerous similarities between the present US–Iran war and the US–Vietnam war I don't have time to list them all but a quick google will show some of them what is clear is this I turning into a war of attrition Iran is not surrendering and is striking back I'm sure the economic damage is far worse than Trump could of imagined if he even gave it a thought at all.

During the Vietnam war air defences were destroyed planes were destroyed but they were replaced. North Vietnam and the VC were being supported and supplied by the Soviet Union & China without them becoming directly involved. The same could happen again.

Iran is a large country with a population of 90 million Israel is a small country with a population of 10 million, without America backing them they are fairly insignificant and they're not exactly on the best of terms with their neighbours.

I don’t doubt most of Iran’s air defence has been destroyed and their missiles and drones depleted but they can be replaced so can air defences.

I’m sure countries like Russia, China, North Korea, Pakistan would love to know just how well their air defence systems work against the latest American weapons, the feedback and data would be invaluable.

Pakistan shares a 600-mile border with Iran, at the moment its walking a tightrope doesn’t want to upset the USA Saudi/Gulf States or Iran but both Iran & Pakistan are Islamic Republics and if they are forced to choose, I feel sure they would side with Iran.

Iran has the expertise to build more missiles and drones if building them in Iran proves to be too vulnerable, they could move production to another country. Ukraine for instance is manufacturing drones in the UK.

Trump has opened a whole can of worms and its going to be a lot harder to put the lid back on.

It’s very hard to see any benefit at all for the US in all this. The only country that stands to benefit is Israel.

There is a large Jewish lobby in the US and the UK as well. Perhaps Netanyahu and the Jewish lobby persuaded Trump it would be a good idea.

Personally what I'm hoping is for the US to withdraw and Trump can boast about how he won a war.

The reality is the war will not have been won Iran will massively rearm and Israel will be even more vulnerable. It wouldn't even surprise me if Iran directly attacks Israel or supports clearing the West Bank of Israeli settlers most likely by proxy but could assist with missile strikes etc. Anything to make Israel pay especially if Iran feels they have the right to operate the same way the IDF does with total disregard to collateral damage or the lives of innocent civilians.

I would also expect Iran to carry out assassinations like the IDF does in retaliation, Netanyahu has to be top of the list.

Next time the US will want to stay well clear now they have a better idea of the consequences there is nothing in it for them.

No. Nothing like the Vietnam war or Iraq or Afghanistan War. This is a different mode of warfare. Weapons are so much more advanced. As for "If the war continues it will all depend on whether other countries are prepared to support Iran and for how long." the other countries (Arab) are not exactly fans of the Islamic Republic of Iran especially as they fire missiles and drones in their direction. There are no other countries supporting Iran that will make an actual difference. As for a war of attrition why do you think this will turn into a war of attrition? If it get's to that stage IMO it won't be US forces fighting off Islamists resistance but a coalition of Middle East countries.

What's missed by many of the Trump hate brigade on here is that Middle East countries will be happy to see the theocratic terrorists of the Islamic Republic of Iran gone. The Middle East hopefully is going to change into a region of relative peace.

Is this the same intelligence that claimed US had won the war on day 3?

7 hours ago, 1tooth said:

Is this the same intelligence that claimed US had won the war on day 3?

No, that was Donald Trump spouting one of his many, many lies. The same Donald Trump who recently claimed to have spoked to a former US president, and that that former president had said he wished he had done to Iran what Trump is now doing. Which we all know is completely made up, just total BS. Trump obviously lives in la-la-land, and just makes stuff up as he goes along. Intelligence is the last thing that has anything to do with that process.

16 hours ago, dinsdale said:

Calling this another Vietnam is interesting. Going onto three weeks in and Iran's defensive system is pretty much nonexistent, navy's been sunk, IRGC navy now taking a hammering, air force is basically gone, missile and missile launchers plus drones severely depleted, military industries being flattened and top echelon leaders taken out. This is three weeks in. Another Vietnam?

Seems similar to Iraq in 23 years ago. Pick your poison, Vietnam Quagmire, Iraq Morass or Afghan Swamp. Americans are experts at digging a hole for themselves through hubris.

All those claims about damage are "I'll take your word for it", as there are basically no independant journalists inside of Iran right now. The war started with the Iranian Navy possessing 97 surface vessals. On 19th March, Hegseth said they had destroyed 120 Iranian Navy vessals..........

10 hours ago, dinsdale said:

No. Nothing like the Vietnam war or Iraq or Afghanistan War. This is a different mode of warfare. Weapons are so much more advanced. As for "If the war continues it will all depend on whether other countries are prepared to support Iran and for how long." the other countries (Arab) are not exactly fans of the Islamic Republic of Iran especially as they fire missiles and drones in their direction. There are no other countries supporting Iran that will make an actual difference. As for a war of attrition why do you think this will turn into a war of attrition? If it get's to that stage IMO it won't be US forces fighting off Islamists resistance but a coalition of Middle East countries.

What's missed by many of the Trump hate brigade on here is that Middle East countries will be happy to see the theocratic terrorists of the Islamic Republic of Iran gone. The Middle East hopefully is going to change into a region of relative peace.

Except for the F35, which is just a platform, the weapons are much the same . Block VI Tomahawks have been in service since 2016. Admittedly the GBU-172 is fairly new (2021), but it basically combines a 40 year old BLU-109 warhead fitted to a late 90s GBU-31/B. TThe M142 HIMARS that have been reportedly used entered service 20 years ago. Reaper drones have been around a long time, so has the AH-64, and obviously the A10.

As for theocratic states, all of the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia are theocratic monarchies, with very much an Islamist agenda. Iran carries out public executions using cranes. Saudi Arabia will use a random square and a bloke with a big sword. Is that better than a theocratic republic? Gulf money funded DAESH; the governments made no effort to stop that, so I would assume they rather approved of this group, and the vast majority of terrorist attacks against the world has been by Sunni groups, not Shia. The civil war in Syria wasn't kicked off by a Shia uprising; they were the ones in charge. The war was started, or rather continued by Sunni groups, who were first crushed by Assad's old man in the 1980s. Until the 1970s, Lebanon was a quiet country, with the Druze, Christians and Shia living in peaceful coexistance. The Palestinians were forced in. The demographic change destabilised the country. Hezbollah emerged in 1982, after Israel invaded Southern Lebanon, chasing the Sunni PLO. Israel was in alliance with the Phalangist faction, who carried out the horrific Sabra and Shatilla massacres of Palestinian refugees and Shia Lebanese. That act was probably the recruiting sergeant for Hezbollah.

Have no doubt, the governments of the Gulf states are rotten to the core. They have murdered and tortured their way to power. They are not good people. I grew up in Bahrain. My dad was British Army, on loan service to the Bahrain Defence Forces, commanding Bahraini units. Even back then, I knew of "Major Henderson". The British contingent would have nothing to do with him, persona non grata in the Embassy. Later on I found out who Ian Henderson was. He was a Police Superintendant from Kenya, cut his teeth during the Mau Mau. In Bahrain, he was in charge of their Special Branch, the Mukabarat, or Secret Police. One of my dad's Warrant Officers, Said, was really good, and dad wanted him to go to the UK, to go on a course, so he could get promotion. But Said was Shia, and it wasn't a good idea for the Shia to shine in Bahrain. So no promotion. His brother had been arrested, and literally disappeared, apparently because they found out how he had voted in a fake election. My school mate is now the Prime Minister. During the Bahrain uprisings, he was Defence Minister. I thought I knew him, he had attended university in the US, and seemed very Westernised. During the uprisings, there was the same old torture, disappearings, of people who basically just wanted a vote.

So I would not get hooked onto the notion that the Gulf nations are normal countries. They are fabulously rich, which makes them bone idle. Why should they work when you can get Indians to do the hard graft, and get some Americans/Brits to do the thinking. They don't think much of the West. They don't share our values. But they know we want their oil, and we will protect them for that oil. Yeah, they play us. An Arab nation I do mark out as different is Jordan. Very different, but they are dirt poor, and have to work. They don't share our values, and do detect Israel, but the relationship is very different.

Countries like Bahrain fear Iran no matter who is in charge. The Shah tried to invade it, so did the Mullahs. Iran has always considered the Shia majority, Sunni ruled Kingdom as Iranian.

The Gulf Arabs won't do any fighting. During the Arab-Israeli wars they sent arms, but <deleted> all else. In Gulf War 1, we kept them out of the way. Ukrainian have noted that the Kuwaiti Patriot operators have this habit of fleeing to a bunker when there is incoming, and leaving the systems on auto (Ukraine has learnt Patriot is more effective in a manual mode). 40% of the Qatari army isn't even Qatari. The main fighting troops in Bahrain are Jordanians and Pakistani Baluchis. In the UAE, the only troops who have done any fighting are Colombian mercenaries.

2 hours ago, rudi49jr said:

No, that was Donald Trump spouting one of his many, many lies. The same Donald Trump who recently claimed to have spoked to a former US president, and that that former president had said he wished he had done to Iran what Trump is now doing. Which we all know is completely made up, just total BS. Trump obviously lives in la-la-land, and just makes stuff up as he goes along. Intelligence is the last thing that has anything to do with that process.

There is a theory that he was talking to himself. He is both a current President and and former President.

On 3/19/2026 at 11:52 AM, webfact said:

Iran’s governing system remains in place

Not unexpected in a theocracy but I don't expect someone like POTUS Trump to understand or care.