US Congress Split Over Whether Iran Posed ‘Imminent Threat’ to United States
US Congress disagreed after a briefing: Speaker Johnson said Israel faced an existential threat from Iran and needed US support. Senator Warner argued there was no direct threat to America itself.
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - A briefing on Operation Epic Fury exposed sharp divisions in Washington, as House Speaker Mike Johnson said Israel viewed Iran’s capabilities as an existential threat and was prepared to act with or without US backing.
Speaking to reporters after a classified briefing on Monday evening, Johnson described the recent US-Israeli strikes on Iran as a defensive measure.
“Israel was determined to act with or without us,” Johnson said, adding that Israel was “determined to act in their own defense here, with or without American support.”
He said Israel’s assessment shaped American deliberations and that administration officials had to carefully weigh risks before supporting the operation.
“They had to evaluate the threats to the US, to our troops, to our installations, to our assets in the region and beyond. And they determined, because of the intelligence that we had, that a coordinated response was necessary,” Johnson said.
Johnson added that had the United States not acted, the Trump administration would have faced scrutiny from Congress.
“I guarantee that if the US had not acted, the Trump administration would have been hauled in by Congress and asked why they waited if they had ‘existential intelligence,’ knowing that that would happen,” he said.
“I am convinced that they did the right thing.”
However, Sen. Mark Warner, a top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, offered a sharply different assessment after emerging from the same briefing.
“There was no imminent threat to the United States of America by the Iranians. It was a threat to Israel,” Warner said. “We equate a threat to Israel is the equivalent of an imminent threat to the United States. Then we are in uncharted territory.”
He added: “We have seen the goals for this operation change now, I believe 4 or 5 times.”
The contrasting statements underscore growing debate in Washington over the intelligence assessments and strategic rationale behind Operation Epic Fury, even as the broader confrontation with Iran continues to unfold.