In a significant contradiction of the White House's stated rationale for military action, senior Defence Department officials conceded during private congressional briefings on Sunday that no intelligence existed to support claims Iran had been planning a pre-emptive attack on American forces. The admission, confirmed by two sources with knowledge of the discussions, appeared to weaken a central pillar of the administration's case for launching the largest US-Israeli military operation against Iran in decades.
The massive joint assault, which began on Saturday, resulted in the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the destruction of Iranian naval vessels, and strikes on more than 1 000 targets, according to officials. Just a day earlier, senior administration figures had told media that President Donald Trump authorised the offensive partly due to indications that Iranian forces might strike American military assets in the Middle East in a possible pre-emptive move.
Ali Larijani responded on X, accusing Trump of plunging the region into turmoil based on "delusional fantasies" while fearing further American military casualties. Larijani also dismissed reports suggesting Iranian officials had attempted to open a diplomatic channel with Washington in the wake of the strikes, which followed nuclear negotiations between Tehran and the US.
Defence Department staff provided briefings lasting more than 90 minutes to Democratic and Republican aides on several national security committees across both chambers of Congress, according to White House spokesperson Dylan Johnson. Meanwhile, the US Embassy in Kuwait issued an urgent warning about ongoing missile and drone threats, instructing citizens to shelter on the lowest floor of their residences and ordering embassy staff to remain in place.
Trump stated the campaign, anticipated to continue for weeks, was designed to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, curtail its missile programme, and neutralise threats facing America and its allies, while calling on the Iranian people to overthrow their government. Democratic lawmakers, however, have accused the president of pursuing an unnecessary war and criticised his decision to abandon peace talks that Omani mediators had described as still viable. Trump maintained, without providing evidence, that Iran was close to developing the capability to target the US with a ballistic missile.
The debate over the war's legitimacy intensified as the military disclosed the first American fatalities of the conflict on Sunday. Three US service members were killed and five others sustained serious injuries, US Central Command confirmed, noting that additional troops suffered minor shrapnel wounds and concussions. American aircraft and warships have now struck more than 1 000 Iranian targets since the president ordered the commencement of major combat operations, with B-2 stealth bombers deploying 900kg munitions against fortified underground missile installations.
