https://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/israel-iran-conflict-06-22-25-intl-hnk#cmc7re40y000t3b6mixxi4gth
36 min ago
Ranking member of House Intelligence Committee left in dark about strikes
From CNN's Aileen Graef
Rep. Jim Himes, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said he was not aware ahead of time about the strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities and that there is a chance it just inspired a “hornet-mad regime” to sprint toward a nuclear weapon.
Himes told CNN’s Kasie Hunt that he “learned about this strike last night on Twitter, which, as you point out, is an uncomfortable thing for the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee.”
Before the strikes, he had not seen any intelligence to suggest there was an imminent risk of Iran building a nuclear weapon.
“I had not seen any intelligence as a member of the Gang of Eight to suggest that Iran had taken the decision to build a weapon, I don’t think there’s any intelligence out there that suggests that that’s true,” Himes said.
While he conceded that the strikes likely caused damage, the Democratic member of Congress said any assessments that the strikes were successful in decimating Iran’s nuclear program are premature.
“We have no idea whether these strikes were successful. Now, if what you’re looking for is a big boom and a large hole in the ground, I have very little doubt that our bunker busters did a big boom and a very large hole in the ground,” he said.
Himes added that Iran may have moved any uranium, and there is a risk of a “hornet-mad regime that has decided that the only way we’re going to forestall this in the future is to actually sprint towards a nuclear weapon.”
Himes called the decision to strike an “enormous gamble.”
“The president has just taken an enormous, enormous gamble. And if history matters, Libya, Afghanistan, Iraq, if history matters, gambles in the Middle East very rarely go the way you expect or even hope they might go,” he said.