The Iranian government suffered heavy blows in the war with the United States and Israel, but remains “intact” and will rebuild its armed forces if it survives, the head of US intelligence said on Wednesday, 18.
The US intelligence community “believes that the regime in Iran remains intact but greatly weakened due to attacks on its leadership and military capabilities,” Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said at a Senate hearing.
“If a hostile regime manages to survive, it is likely to undertake a multi-year effort to rebuild its military forces, its missile arsenals and its unmanned aerial vehicle units,” he added.
Tulsi further shared findings on Iran in an annual threat analysis. According to the director, Iran was not rebuilding its nuclear enrichment capabilities destroyed in a joint attack by the United States and Israel in June 2025, contradicting President Donald Trump’s justifications for the war.
“As a result of Operation Midnight Hammer, Iran’s nuclear program was annihilated. Since then, there have been no efforts to try to rebuild its enrichment capacity,” Tulsi told the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Trump has repeatedly stated that he ordered the attack on Iran on February 28, in collaboration with Israel, due to an “imminent threat”.
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After the June 2025 bombing, Trump declared that the United States had completely destroyed Iran’s nuclear facilities. However, since the beginning of the conflict, the president has maintained that Tehran was just weeks away from obtaining an atomic bomb, an idea not shared by most observers.
A high-ranking advisor to Tulsi, who, in her time as a congresswoman, led the opposition to a war with Iran, resigned from her position on Tuesday, 17th, arguing that there was no “imminent threat” and that Trump was misled by Israel and the press.
Tulsi highlighted to senators that Iran had suffered heavy blows during weeks of attacks, including the assassination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, but that the Islamic Republic remained in operation.
