TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Officials from the United States department of defense or the Pentagon, admitted in closed-door briefings with US Congress staff that there was no intelligence suggesting that Iran planned to attack US troops first, according to two people familiar with the matter.
The United States and Israel launched their most ambitious attack on Iran in decades on Saturday, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and more than 200 civilians, half of whom were girls, sinking an Iranian warship, and hitting over 1,000 targets so far, officials said.
However, a statement to Congress conducted in secret on Sunday appears to undermine one of the key arguments for the war made by senior officials in President Donald Trump's administration.
They told reporters the day before that Trump decided to launch the attack in part due to indications that Iran might attack US troops in the Middle East "perhaps preemptively."
Trump, said one official, would not "sit back and allow American forces in the region to absorb attacks."
Pentagon Briefing
Pentagon officials briefed Democrat and Republican staff from several national security committees in the Senate and the House of Representatives for over 90 minutes about the ongoing US attacks in Iran, White House spokesperson Dylan Johnson said previously.
In the briefing, government officials emphasized that Iran's ballistic missiles and proxy forces in the region posed a direct threat to US interests. However, there was no intelligence data about Tehran attacking US troops first, said the two sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, as reported by RNZ on Tuesday.
Trump said the attacks, expected to last for several weeks, aimed to ensure Iran could not have nuclear weapons, curtail its missile program, and eliminate the threat to the United States and its allies.
In an eight-minute video on Truth Social after the first wave of attacks, Trump said Iran continued to develop long-range missiles that could threaten Europe and US forces—although US intelligence had assessed Tehran would not acquire such weapons for years.
The President, in a second video uploaded online on Sunday, said the operation would continue and US casualties were likely to increase.
However, Trump has not formally addressed the nation or answered questions about his decision to deploy troops, apart from a brief one-on-one call with a few media outlets. His actions represent a surprising reversal from his campaign promise to end perpetual wars and from his criticism of America's longstanding nation-building in the Middle East during a speech last year in Saudi Arabia.
Criticism from Democrats
Nevertheless, Democrats accused Trump of launching a war and abandoning peaceful talks, despite promises made by Omani mediators.
Trump argued, without providing evidence, that Iran was on the verge of acquiring the ability to attack the United States with ballistic missiles.
His missile claims were not supported by US intelligence reports and seemed exaggerated, according to sources familiar with the report.
Questions about the justification for the war arose as the US military revealed the first American casualties in the conflict on Sunday.
Unlike previous presidents who launched large-scale military campaigns, Trump made little effort to rally support from Congress, US allies, or the American people.
The Trump administration did not attempt to persuade the Senate to authorize the war, as President George W. Bush did in Iraq, or appeal to the United Nations, as George H.W. Bush did to build a coalition against Saddam Hussein's attack on Kuwait.
“Whatever imminent threat they’re posing was likely in reaction to our unprecedented military buildup in the region," said Senator Andy Kim, as quoted by Politico. “This is an example of the president deciding what he wanted to do, and then making his administration go and find whatever argument they could make to justify it.”
Three US Soldiers Killed
Three US soldiers were killed, and five others suffered severe injuries, the US Central Command said on Sunday, adding that some other US troops suffered minor injuries from shrapnel and concussions.
US warplanes and warships have targeted over 1,000 Iranian sites since Trump ordered the start of a massive combat operation, the military said.
The attacks included a B-2 stealth bomber dropping a 900-kilogram bomb on a reinforced Iranian underground missile facility.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll on Sunday showed 27% of Americans approved of the attack, while 43% disapproved, and 29% were unsure.
Read: Survey: Only 25 Percent of Americans Support Attack on Iran
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