US Senator Jon Ossoff confronted Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard over contradictions between intelligence assessments and White House claims that Iran posed an “imminent nuclear threat,” casting doubt on the justification for military action against the Islamic Republic.
During a tense Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Wednesday, Ossoff highlighted inconsistencies between Gabbard’s testimony and earlier statements by the administration of Donald Trump. Gabbard affirmed that the US intelligence community assesses Iran’s nuclear enrichment program was “obliterated” by last summer’s US airstrikes on Iranian nuclear targets and that there have been no efforts to rebuild it since.
Those conclusions appear at odds with a March 1 White House statement describing the war as a “military campaign to eliminate the imminent nuclear threat posed by the Iranian regime.”
Pressed repeatedly on whether US intelligence had assessed Iran as posing an imminent threat, Gabbard declined to give a direct answer, instead arguing that determining imminence falls under presidential authority
“It is not the Intelligence Community’s responsibility to determine what is and is not an imminent threat,” she said, accrding to a transcript of the questioning provided by Ossof’s Website.
Ossoff rejected that assertion, noting that Gabbard herself had testified that her role is to provide “timely, objective and independent” assessments of threats.
“You’re evading a question because to provide a candid response… would contradict a statement from the White House,” he said.
Here’s Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia questioning US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on the timeline of communications over whether there was an 'imminent nuclear threat' posed by Iran. He ties her in knots. pic.twitter.com/aIaAO1ntZf
— James Melville 🚜 (@JamesMelville) March 18, 2026
The exchange underscored a central contradiction: while intelligence assessments point to a dismantled Iranian nuclear program with no active rebuilding, the Trump administration has framed its war as a “response to an urgent and immediate danger.”
The hearing also raised broader concerns about the politicization of intelligence, as lawmakers questioned whether threat assessments are being aligned with policy decisions rather than informing them.
In a separate line of questioning, Ossoff also scrutinized Gabbard’s involvement in an FBI raid on a Georgia elections office, revealing that she had “oversaw portions” of the operation at the request of Trump—an issue now under inquiry by the committee.
Source: US media (edited by Al-Manar)