Gabbard defers to Trump when asked if Iran posed "imminent threat"

Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told the Senate on Wednesday that only the president can determine whether a nation poses an "imminent threat," declining to say the intelligence community itself makes that assessment. Senator Jon Ossoff pressed her directly on whether the IC assessed Iran posed an imminent nuclear threat; Gabbard said the community found Iran had the intention to rebuild nuclear enrichment capabilities but stopped short of calling it imminent. Her testimony came after Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, resigned with a letter stating Iran posed "no imminent threat," contradicting the White House's public justification for recent U.S.-Israeli strikes. Kent's departure marks the first senior Trump administration official to break with the war effort, and Gabbard's deference to presidential authority on threat assessment signals the administration is closing ranks around the Iran operations despite internal dissent.