Israel-US strikes: Iran was never going to attack first

By Lawrence Agbo

In private briefings with congressional staff on Sunday, Trump administration officials admitted that there was no evidence indicating Iran intended to launch an initial attack on U.S. forces, according to two people with knowledge of the situation.

The statements to Congress seemed to undermine one of the main justifications for the war put forth by high-ranking administration officials.

The day before, they informed reporters that President Donald Trump’s decision to initiate the attacks was partly motivated by signs that Iranian forces may attack American soldiers in the Middle East “perhaps preemptively.”

According to one official, Trump would not “sit back and allow American forces in the region to absorb attacks.”

White House spokesperson Dylan Johnson earlier claimed that Pentagon officials spent more than 90 minutes briefing Democratic and Republican staff of several national security committees in the Senate and the House of Representatives on the Israel-US strikes in Iran.

The two sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told the media that while administration officials stressed in the briefings that Iran’s ballistic missiles and proxy forces in the region constituted an immediate threat to U.S. interests, there was no intelligence that Tehran would attack U.S. forces first.

Trump stated that the goal of the weeks-long operation was to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, control its missile development, and eradicate any threats to the US and its allies.

He has called on Iranians to overthrow the government.

Democrats, however, have attacked Trump’s justifications for ending peace negotiations that mediator Oman claimed still had potential and charged him with fighting a war of choice.

Trump has claimed, without providing proof, that Iran was on course to acquire the capability of launching a ballistic missile attack against the United States.

According to those familiar with the reports, his missile claim seemed inflated and was not supported by U.S. intelligence reports.

On Saturday, the Israel-US strikes killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sank Iranian warships, and struck over 1,000 targets in their most aggressive attacks on Iran in decades.

And on Sunday, the first American losses of the war were announced by the U.S. military, raising questions about the rationale of the fight.