From PBS NewsHour.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., questioned Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard about U.S. intelligence agencies’ previous assessments about Iran, as oil prices spike due to the conflict.
Wyden noted a line from last year’s annual worldwide threats assessment, which was produced by Gabbard’s office. "Iran’s large
conventional forces are capable of inflicting substantial damage to an attacker, executing regional strikes, and disrupting shipping, particularly energy supplies, through the Strait of Hormuz," the March 2025 report said.
"In other words, every problem we’re seeing now was not only foreseeable, but was actually predicted by the intelligence agencies," Wyden said.
He asked Gabbard if the intelligence community continued to believe that Iran could shut down the strait, a critical passageway for 20% of the world’s oil exports. Gabbard said that she and her team continue to provide the administration "with the intelligence related to this operation in Iran, before and on an ongoing basis."
Top U.S. intelligence officials were testifying Wednesday before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence at an open hearing on worldwide threats. It’s the first of two days of hearings on Capitol Hill surrounding the intelligence community’s release of its annual assessment of threats to national security.
The Senate hearing comes a day after National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent resigned over President Donald Trump’s war in Iran. Kent, a former Green Beret and CIA official known for his past ties to right-wing extremists, said in a statement Tuesday that Iran "posed no imminent threat" to the U.S. and he could not "in good conscience" support the war.
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