By Phil Stewart and Humeyra Pamuk
WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) – Trump administration officials acknowledged in closed-door briefings with congressional staff on Sunday that there was no intelligence suggesting Iran planned to attack U.S. forces first, two people familiar with the matter said.
The United States and Israel launched their most ambitious attacks on Iran in decades on Saturday, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, sinking Iranian warships and hitting more than 1,000 targets so far, officials say.
But Sunday’s remarks to Congress appeared to undercut one of the key arguments for the war made by senior administration officials.
They told reporters the day before that President Donald Trump decided to launch the attacks in part because of indicators that Iranians might strike U.S. forces in the Middle East “perhaps preemptively.”
Trump, one of the officials said, was not going to “sit back and allow American forces in the region to absorb attacks.”
PENTAGON BRIEFINGS LASTED MORE THAN 90 MINUTES
Pentagon officials briefed Democratic and Republican staff of several national security committees in both the Senate and the House of Representatives for more than 90 minutes on the unfolding U.S. attack in Iran, White House spokesperson Dylan Johnson said earlier.
In the briefings, administration officials emphasized that Iran’s ballistic missiles and proxy forces in the region posed an imminent threat to U.S. interests, but there was no intelligence about Tehran attacking U.S. forces first, the two sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.
Trump said the attack, which is expected to run for weeks, aimed to ensure Iran could not have a nuclear weapon, contain its missile program and eliminate threats to the United States and its allies.
He has urged Iranians to rise up and topple the government.
DEMOCRATS CRITICISE ‘WAR OF CHOICE’
Still, Democrats have accused Trump of waging a war of choice and have taken aim at his arguments for abandoning peace talks that mediator Oman said still held promise.
Trump has argued, without presenting evidence, that Iran was on track to soon secure the ability to strike the United States with a ballistic missile.
His missile claim was not backed by U.S. intelligence reports, and appeared to be exaggerated, sources familiar with the reports have told Reuters.
Questions about the justification for the war come as the U.S. military revealed on Sunday the first American casualties of the conflict.
THREE U.S. TROOPS KILLED, FIVE WOUNDED
Three U.S. troops were killed and five seriously wounded, U.S. Central Command said on Sunday, adding that several other U.S. troops suffered minor shrapnel injuries and concussions.
U.S. aircraft and warships have struck more than 1,000 Iranian targets since Trump ordered the start of major combat operations, the military said.
The strikes include B-2 stealth bombers dropping 2,000-lb (900-kg) bombs on hardened, underground Iranian missile facilities.
A Reuters/Ipsos poll on Sunday showed 27% of Americans approved of the strikes, while 43% disapproved and 29% were not sure.
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Phil Stewart; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
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