Senators diverge sharply on damage done by Iran strikes after classified
briefing
[June 27, 2025]
By JOEY CAPPELLETTI and MARY CLARE JALONICK
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senators emerged from a classified briefing Thursday
with sharply diverging assessments of President Donald Trump’s bombing
of three Iranian nuclear sites, with Republicans calling the mission a
clear success and Democrats expressing deep skepticism.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense
Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs
of Staff, came to Capitol Hill to give the classified briefings,
originally scheduled for Tuesday.
Many Republicans left satisfied, though their assessments of how much
Iran’s nuclear program was set back by the bombing varied. Sen. Tom
Cotton said a “major blow” and “catastrophic damage” had been dealt to
Iran's facilities.
“Their operational capability was obliterated. There is nobody working
there tonight. It was highly effective. There’s no reason to hit those
sites anytime soon,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.
Democrats remained doubtful and criticized Trump for not giving Congress
more information. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York
said the briefing “raised more questions than it answered.”
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., said the strike appears to "have only set
back the Iranian nuclear program by a handful of months."
“There's no doubt there was damage done to the program,” said Murphy,
but “allegations that we have obliterated their program just don't seem
to stand up to reason.”
“I just do not think the president was telling the truth when he said
this program was obliterated,” he added.
The session came as senators weighed their support for a resolution
affirming that Trump should seek authorization from Congress before
launching more military action against Iran. A vote on that resolution
could come as soon as Thursday.
Democrats, and some Republicans, have said the White House overstepped
its authority when it failed to seek the advice of Congress. They also
want to know more about the intelligence that Trump relied on when he
authorized the attacks.
A similar briefing for House members will be held Friday.
A preliminary U.S. intelligence report found that Iran’s nuclear program
had been set back only a few months, contradicting statements from Trump
and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the status of Iran’s
nuclear facilities, according to two people familiar with the report.
They were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on
condition of anonymity.
“You want to call it destroyed, you want to call it defeated, you want
to call it obliterated — choose your word. This was an historically
successful attack,” Hegseth said at a Pentagon briefing Thursday.
On Wednesday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and
Ratcliffe sent out statements backing Trump’s claims that the facilities
were “completely and fully obliterated.”
Gabbard posted on social media that “new intelligence confirms what @POTUS
has stated numerous times: Iran’s nuclear facilities have been
destroyed.” She said that if the Iranians choose to rebuild the three
facilities, it would “likely take years to do.”
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CIA Director John Ratcliffe departs a classified briefing for
senators at the Capitol on Capitol Hill, Thursday, June 26, 2025, in
Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
Ratcliffe said in a statement from the CIA that Iran's nuclear
program has been “severely damaged.” He cited new intelligence “from
a historically reliable and accurate source/method that several key
Iranian nuclear facilities were destroyed and would have to be
rebuilt over the course of years.”
Most Republicans have defended Trump and hailed the tentative
ceasefire he brokered in the Israel-Iran war. House Speaker Mike
Johnson, R-La., went as far as to question the constitutionality of
the War Powers Act, which is intended to give Congress a say in
military action.
“The bottom line is the commander in chief is the president, the
military reports to the president, and the person empowered to act
on the nation’s behalf is the president,” Johnson told reporters.
But some Republicans, including some of Trump’s staunchest
supporters, are uncomfortable with the strikes and the potential for
U.S. involvement in an extended Middle East conflict.
“I think the speaker needs to review the Constitution,” said Sen.
Rand Paul, R-Ky. “And I think there’s a lot of evidence that our
Founding Fathers did not want presidents to unilaterally go to war.”
Paul would not say whether he would vote for the resolution by Sen.
Tim Kaine, D-Va., that would require congressional approval for
specific military action in Iran. A simple majority in the Senate is
needed to pass the resolution and Republicans hold a 53-47
advantage.
“I will have Republican votes, plural,” Kaine said. “But whether
it’s two or 10, I don’t know.”
Kaine authored a similar resolution in 2020 aimed at limiting
Trump’s authority to launch military operations against Iran. At the
time, eight Republicans joined Democrats in approving the
resolution.
“I think I have a chance to get some votes from people who are glad
that President Trump did this over the weekend, but they’re saying,
‘Ok, but now if we’re really going to go to war, it should only have
to go through the Congress,’” Kaine told The Associated Press before
the briefing.
While Trump did not seek approval, he sent congressional leaders a
short letter Monday serving as his official notice of the strikes,
which occurred Saturday between 6:40 p.m. and 7:05 p.m. EDT, or
roughly 2:10 a.m. on Sunday in Iran.
The letter said the strike was taken “to advance vital United States
national interests, and in collective self-defense of our ally,
Israel, by eliminating Iran’s nuclear program.”
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Associated Press writers Leah Askarinam, Matt Brown and Lisa Mascaro
contributed to this report.
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