According to the UN health agency, there is no indication of a wider Hantavirus outbreak. WHO

The head of the UN health agency has stated that there is "no sign" of a wider Hantavirus outbreak following the evacuation of the last passengers from a disease-stricken cruise ship. However, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), has cautioned that "the situation could change" and that there may be more confirmed virus cases. The MV Hondius departed Tenerife on Monday and is sailing to the Dutch port of Rotterdam. Two flights carrying the final 28 passengers have tested positive.
However, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), cautioned that "the situation could change" and that there might be additional confirmed viral infections.
On Monday, the MV Hondius sailed from Tenerife to Rotterdam, a port in the Netherlands. On Tuesday, two aircraft carrying the last 28 passengers touched down in neighboring Eindhoven.

After traveling on the ship, three persons passed away. Both a Spaniard and a French national who had already returned home tested positive. Nine cases have been confirmed by the WHO, and two more are suspected.

Twelve employees at a Dutch hospital are currently under quarantine due to potential virus exposure after treating one of the evacuated passengers. The hospital in the city of Nijmegen said on Monday that this was a precautionary measure because the workers did not follow strict protocols when handling the patient's blood and urine samples. The Spanish patient is described as having mild respiratory symptoms. The French woman is in intensive care in a hospital in Paris, where doctors say she has "the most severe form" of the illness and is receiving treatment with an artificial lung.
Mild respiratory symptoms are reported for the Spanish patient.
After treating one of the evacuated passengers, twelve staff members at a Dutch hospital are currently under quarantine due to potential viral contact.

The hospital in the city of Nijmegen stated on Monday that this was a preventative action since the personnel handling the patient's blood and urine samples did not adhere to established guidelines.

WHO Send a graph for Affected Countries Netherlands, UK, US, Spain, France, Canada, Germany, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, Tristan da Cunha, Greece 

 "At the moment, there is no sign that we are seeing the start of a larger outbreak." "But of course the situation could change and, given the long incubation period of the virus, it's possible we might see more cases in the coming weeks." Ghebreyesus emphasized that "our work is not over" to contain the outbreak from the cruise ship. Hantaviruses are typically carried by rodents, but human transmission of the Andes strain—which the WHO believes some of the ship's passengers contracted in South America.Naturally, though, things could change, and considering how long the virus takes to incubate, we might see more instances in the upcoming weeks."

Additionally, he emphasized that "our work is not over" in terms of containing the cruise ship outbreak.

Although rodents are typically the carriers of hantaviruses, it is possible for humans to contract the Andes strain, which the WHO suspects some of the ship's passengers acquired in South America.

Fever, intense exhaustion, muscle pains, stomach discomfort, vomiting, diarrhea, and shortness of breath are some of the symptoms. According to WHO officials, there is very little chance of a significant outbreak.
The likelihood of a significant outbreak is quite low, according to WHO officials.

 

 One of the 14 Spaniards being held in quarantine in Madrid following their evacuation from the ship tested positive for hantavirus on Tuesday, according to Spain's health minister.

According to the government, the passenger is stable despite having a "low-grade fever and mild respiratory symptoms."
Biological samples are being collected in Italy from a symptomatic guy who flew on the same aircraft as a woman who subsequently succumbed to the illness.
The Spallanzani in Rome, Italy's primary hospital for infectious diseases, will receive the samples, according to the ANSA news agency.

In other news, French President Emmanuel Macron declared that things were "under control" in his country.

According to Health Minister Stéphanie Rist, 22 so-called "contact cases" were being hospitalized in isolation for at least two weeks, one French woman was in critical care, and four other people who had been repatriated had tested negative in the hospital.
Currently, two British citizens with proven cases are receiving treatment in South Africa and the Netherlands.

The Dutch-flagged ship is scheduled to arrive in Rotterdam on the evening of May 17 after a six-day voyage. The ship will be sanitized, but the specific arrival methods are still being discussed, according to Oceanwide Expedition, the ship's operator.

Over the past few days, 122 passengers and crew members of the MV Hondius have been returned to the Netherlands and their home countries on government-chartered flights, with the last six passengers—four Australians, one Briton, and one New Zealander—as well as a few crew members departing the ship on Monday.
Over the past three days, government-chartered flights have returned 122 passengers and crew members of the MV Hondius to the Netherlands and their home countries.

As of Monday evening, Oceanwide Expeditions reported that 27 people were still on board the ship, including 25 crew members and two medical personnel. Of these, 17 were from the Philippines, 4 were from the Netherlands (including the two medical personnel), 4 were from Ukraine, 1 was from Russia, and 1 was from Poland. Ukraine's foreign ministry stated that the Ukrainians on board would assist with the ship's transfer to the Netherlands and would be quarantined at a medical facility upon arrival. The Philippine Embassy reported that 17 Filipino crew members arrived in the Netherlands on Tuesday morning.
Among them were 17 individuals from the Philippines, four from the Netherlands (including the two medical personnel), four from Ukraine, one from Russia, and one from Poland.
The Ukrainians on board would assist with the ship's passage to the Netherlands and would be placed under quarantine at a medical institution upon arrival, according to Ukraine's foreign ministry. They had not displayed any symptoms of disease, it continued.

According to the Philippine Embassy, seventeen Filipino crew members reached the Netherlands early on Tuesday.

The first passenger to pass away on board the MV Hondius on April 11 was a 70-year-old Dutch man who had previously experienced symptoms and is thought to have been the first person infected in the outbreak, although he passed away before being tested. He is thought to have been the first person in the outbreak to exhibit symptoms, but he passed away before being tested.

On April 24, his wife, 69, departed the ship on the island of St. Helena and took a plane to South Africa. Two days later, she passed away in a Johannesburg clinic.
On May 2, a German woman passed away aboard the cruise ship.
The cases of both women were verified.

After leaving Ushuaia, Argentina, on April 1, the MV Hondius was transporting 147 passengers and crew from 23 different nations.

Before returning home, American guests from a cruise ship affected by the hantavirus will make a detour at a facility in Nebraska. What we know is as follows:

 The 17 Americans who disembarked from the cruise ship near the epicenter of the hantavirus outbreak on Sunday were being flown back to the United States, first to Nebraska, where the highly specialized National Quarantine Unit is located.

The World Health Organization claims that the virus, which is usually linked to rodents, may have spread from person to person on the MV Hondius cruise liner. Three members of the ship have passed away since April 11, and a few more are ill.

The US Department of Health and Human Services announced late on Sunday that one American had tested positive for the virus and another had minor symptoms. In a post on X, HHS stated that both were flying in biocontainment units "out of an abundance of caution."

The University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha announced late on Sunday that the passenger who tested positive does not exhibit any symptoms and will be transported straight to the biocontainment unit. The remaining travelers will be evaluated and observed at the National Quarantine Unit.

CNN has contacted HHS to request additional details about the travelers.

 This is all the information we have regarding how the American travelers will return to the US and what will happen to them after they get there.

EVALUATION IN THE CANARY ISLANDS

On Sunday night, the passengers were observed being transported from the cruise liner to shore on smaller boats while donning blue masks and protective gear.

According to a CDC official, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention personnel were scheduled to assess the US passengers from the MV Hondius cruise ship as well as one British national who lives in the US in Tenerife.

ONE MORE VISIT TO OMAHA

According to US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., after returning to the United States, the passengers would be airlifted to the National Quarantine Unit at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha for additional evaluation.

According to Nebraska Medicine, the Omaha facility is "the only federally funded quarantine unit in the United States, designed specifically to safely house and monitor people who may have been exposed to high-consequence infectious diseases."

Twenty 300-square-foot, single-person rooms have negative air pressure devices installed to keep any potential diseases at bay. For patients staying for extended periods of time, doctors there compare them to hotel rooms with built-in restrooms, exercise equipment, food delivery, and Wi-Fi.

Earlier, a CDC official stated that the agency was viewing this as a quick visit to keep an eye on the health of the cruise ship passengers rather than a quarantine.

Dr. H. Dele Davis, the hospital's acting chancellor, told CNN that the 18 travelers will be examined for signs of the early stages of hantavirus, such as fever, muscle aches, and diarrhea.
According to a CDC official, passengers who do not exhibit symptoms will not be tested for the hantavirus because it is not advised to do so.

According to Nebraska Medicine officials, anyone who does become ill may be moved to the Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, a specialized facility on-site that previously treated patients during the 2014 Ebola outbreak and some of the first Covid-19 patients from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in 2020.

The remaining passengers will subsequently be transported by airlift to one of over a dozen Regional Emerging Special Pathogen Treatment Centers, which are regional centers dedicated to special pathogen preparedness. The Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, a division of HHS, collaborates closely with the centers. If safety procedures permit, the passengers will also have the choice to return home following their evaluation in Omaha, National Institutes of Health Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya told CNN's Jake Tapper on Sunday.

The CDC will interview the travelers to assess their risk, according to Bhattacharya, who is also the agency's interim director. If they did not interact with someone who was exhibiting symptoms, they would be considered "low risk."
The CDC would advise the travelers to "stay in Nebraska if they'd like, or if they want to go back home and their home situation allows it, to safely drive them home without exposing others on the way, and then be put in the control... under the auspices of their state and local public health agencies," according to Bhattacharya.

MONITORING EVERY DAY AT HOME

According to a CDC official, the passengers will be monitored at home every day for the next 42 days when they return home.
According to Nebraska Medicine, the objective is to keep an eye on the travelers during the virus's up to six-week incubation phase and lower the chance of the illness spreading.

Passengers who do not test positive will not be placed in quarantine, according to health officials, but they will be instructed to take particular safety measures.

 A CDC representative stated, "If it's a high-risk exposure, there will be some modified activities that we would recommend, limiting activities outside the house that don't involve extensive interactions with other people." "They should also collaborate with their health departments regarding the environment surrounding other activities."

HOW WE ARRIVED AND WHAT COMES NEXT

According to the WHO, there is still little risk to the general population from the hantavirus outbreak, which was initially reported to them on May 2.
Although this strain, the Andes virus, can occasionally pass person-to-person through extremely close, continuous contact with an infected individual, the Hantavirus usually infects people by contact with rodent urine or droppings.
According to a person with knowledge of the issue, the CDC has designated its hantavirus response as Level 3, the organization's lowest level of emergency.

As of May 8, the MV Hondius cruise ship was linked to eight cases in total: two probable cases and six lab-confirmed cases.
Spanish health authorities reported that all of the passengers who were tested on Sunday after the ship docked in Tenerife were asymptomatic. The prime minister of France stated that all five evacuees on that aircraft will be placed under isolation protocols after one of the passengers later displayed symptoms when returning home.

WHAT IS KNOWN ABOUT THE FATALITIES ON CRUISE SHIPS

Following a possible hantavirus outbreak on a ship that is currently stranded in the Canary Islands, where passengers started to depart on May 10, three people have died and numerous others are ill.

Five states—Arizona, California, Georgia, Texas, and Virginia—are keeping an eye on seven additional American passengers who earlier disembarked the ship, according to officials.
Utah confirmed that at least one passenger was from that state, and New Jersey stated it is also keeping an eye on two individuals who were exposed.

Fever, chills, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, coughing, breathing difficulties, and chest pain are some of the symptoms.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stated that this hantavirus epidemic is "not another Covid-19" in an attempt to allay worries before the passengers disembarked.

Why shipping problems and high oil prices cannot be resolved by reopening the Strait of Hormuz

It is proving to be challenging to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. However, it won't be sufficient to get things back to normal even if the crucial waterway completely opens and oil and other essential cargo sail out.

This is due to the fact that in order to maintain the flow of commodities, empty ships will have to return to the strait. According to experts, shipping lines won't begin using the strait to access the Persian Gulf as long as there is a significant chance that the ceasefire would only last temporarily.

According to Lale Akoner, a global market analyst at eToro, tankers, ship owners, and their insurers won't permit their vessels to return to the Gulf until they are certain they won't be stranded there for weeks or more.

 "I don't think a two-week ceasefire and a fragile ceasefire would give the confidence (to ship operators) that is needed," she stated.

The advantages of hundreds of fully loaded ships going out of the strait will be fleeting if new ships don't enter the Gulf to take up the next shipments of oil, fertilizer, and other vital cargo. For months to come, there will probably be shortages and high costs for goods like oil.

The ships that are stuck in the Gulf must first depart in order to get things back on track. According to Matt Smith of the trade analytics company Kpler, it hasn't occurred yet.

"Virtually no one is self-assured enough to cross the strait," he remarked. According to Smith, there are now just ten or fewer of the more than 100 oil tankers that normally pass through the Strait of Hormuz each day.

The majority of ships will be leaving, even if there is faith in the truce. Only approximately 100 empty oil tankers are ready to enter the Gulf, according to Smith, while about 400 filled tankers are waiting to leave.

 According to Smith, it would probably take until July for oil flows to return to normal even if the strait opened today.

This also applies to container ships, which are essential for exporting industrial resins and fertilizer as well as food and other goods that the Gulf states depend on. According to Peter Tirschwell, vice president for maritime and trade at S&P Global Market Intelligence, there are roughly 100 container ships waiting to leave but almost none waiting to arrive.

According to him, this means that 30% of the fertilizer that typically leaves the area is probably stranded there for months until new ships arrive to remove it. Similar to the oil, the only means to transport that cargo is by ship.

"It is not possible to simply reroute those loads," he stated.

Experts predict that production of a variety of items produced there, including crude oil, gasoline and other refined fuels, and fertilizer, will continue to stall in the absence of additional ships passing through the strait and into the Gulf. ABC News

Because there was nowhere to store those goods, production has stopped for the last six weeks, according to Smith.

He stated that the Gulf's oil producers "are used to just putting (oil) on a tanker and it immediately going out." "In addition to having the tankers ready to load that crude, they will need time to increase production."

After lengthy negotiations in Pakistan, Vance says there is no agreement with Iran.

Direct negotiations between the US and Iran to terminate the conflict are underway in Pakistan.

The failure to come to an agreement casts doubt on the ceasefire and raises concerns about reopening the Strait of Hormuz when global oil supplies are still being restricted.

 After separate bilateral discussions with the prime minister of Pakistan, talks between US and Iranian representatives start.

Days after a precarious ceasefire was reached, the United States and Iran are having face-to-face negotiations in Pakistan to put an end to their six-week-old conflict.

Following prior bilateral meetings between each side and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the White House confirmed that face-to-face talks between the two sides started in Islamabad on Saturday afternoon.

According to Iranian official media, three-party negotiations had started following the fulfillment of Iranian demands, such as a decrease in Israeli attacks on Lebanon.

Originally intended to be "proximate talks," Al Jazeera's Abid Hussain reported from Islamabad that "our sources close to the mediation say the two teams are [now] involved in direct negotiations, with the Pakistani mediators also present" in the room.

President Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff are part of the US delegation, which is headed by US Vice President JD Vance.

Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf are leading Iran's delegation of almost 70 individuals.

Earlier on Saturday, Vance and Ghalibaf had separate meetings with Sharif of Pakistan. According to Sharif's office, Islamabad was eager to continue assisting both parties.

According to a statement from Sharif's office, "the Prime Minister expressed the hope that these talks would serve as a steppingstone toward durable peace in the region."

Despite Tehran's earlier claims that the talks would not move without promises over Lebanon's involvement in the truce and US sanctions, the negotiations went forward.

Ghalibaf earlier stated on X that Washington has already consented to a truce in Lebanon, where Israeli attacks on Iran-backed Hezbollah forces have killed around to 2,000 people since the battle began in March, as well as to unblock Iranian assets.

Tehran and Pakistan claim the Lebanon campaign is a part of the Iran-US ceasefire, although Israel and the US have denied this.

According to sources cited by Osama Bin Javaid of Al Jazeera, who reported from Islamabad, "there has been some progress made on basic conditions, including on the need for a ceasefire in Lebanon."

He claimed there are reports of a potential agreement to restrict strikes to southern Lebanon, even though no truce has been reached in Lebanon.

According to sources, "there could be some movement on the unfreezing" of Iranian assets, Bin Javaid added. Though "it is still early hours and a lot of this needs to be confirmed," he added, Pakistan remains optimistic about the prospect of a resolution.

Iranian state media said that Ghalibaf had before stated that Iran was prepared to make a deal provided Washington delivered what he called a genuine agreement and gave Iran its rights.

 Shortly after arriving in Pakistan, Ghalibaf declared, "Our experience in negotiating with the Americans has always been met with failure and broken promises."

Trump claimed on social media that the Iranian officials were just present to make a deal.
The Iranians appear to be unaware that their only option is to use international waterways to blackmail the world in the short run. He declared, "The only reason they are still alive today is to negotiate."

Speaking on his way to Pakistan, Vance stated that he anticipated a favorable result but added, "If they're going to try to play us, then they're going to find the negotiating team is not that receptive."

US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran have stopped since Trump called a two-week ceasefire in the conflict on Tuesday.

However, neither a truce in the parallel conflict between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon nor an end to Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which has caused the greatest disruption to world energy supply ever, have been achieved.

Despite the US-Iran ceasefire, shipping in the Strait of Hormuz is at a stop.

Tehran and Washington accuse one another of breaking the terms of the cease-fire.

Despite the ceasefire agreement between the United States and Iran, shipping in the Strait of Hormuz is still at a standstill, dimming hopes for a resolution to one of the greatest global energy disruptions in history.
According to ship tracking data, only a few ships have crossed the crucial strait since Washington and Tehran established a two-week ceasefire on Tuesday.

 Data from market research firm Kpler shows that five ships crossed the strait on Wednesday, compared to eleven the day before, and seven on Thursday.

Lloyd's List Intelligence reports that over 600 ships, including 325 tankers, are still stuck in the Gulf as a result of the strait's closure. coincentral 

In an analysis published on Thursday, Kpler trade risk analyst Ana Subasic stated, "While some vessel movement has resumed, traffic remains very limited, compliant shipowners are likely to stay cautious, and safe transit capacity is expected to remain constrained at maximum 10–15 passages per day if the ceasefire holds, without consideration of tolls applied."

Before the US and Israel began their airstrikes on Iran on February 28, the waterway, which normally transports over one-fifth of the world's oil and LNG supply, handled roughly 120–140 transits.

President Donald Trump of the United States accused Iran on Thursday of not fulfilling its obligation under the ceasefire agreement to permit "safe passage" in the canal for a period of two weeks.

Trump said on Truth Social, "Iran is doing a very poor job, dishonorable some would say, of allowing Oil to go through the Strait of Hormuz."

 In regard to Israel's continuous attacks on Lebanon, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had earlier accused the US of breaking the agreement and warned that it would have to decide between a truce and "continued war" through its ally.

In a social media post, Araghchi stated, "The world sees the massacres in Lebanon."

"The world is watching the United States to see if it will fulfill its commitments."

Oil prices have started to rise after falling on the announcement of the ceasefire as markets come to terms with the fact that, in spite of the truce, marine commerce is still essentially suspended.

"At this point, clarification is necessary. In a social media post on Thursday, Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, CEO of ADNOC, the state-owned oil corporation of the United Arab Emirates, stated, "Let's be clear: the Strait of Hormuz is not open."

"Access is being controlled, conditioned, and limited. Iran has made clear – through both its statements and actions – that passage is subject to permission, conditions and political leverage. That isn't navigational freedom. Coercion is what that is.

The global standard, Brent crude, dropped below $95 per barrel on Wednesday and was at $96.39 as of 02:00 GMT on Friday.
Following overnight advances on Wall Street fueled by expectations of a war resolution, Asia's major stock markets began higher on Friday.
Early trading saw a 1.8 percent increase in Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225, a 2 percent increase in South Korea's KOSPI, and a 1 percent increase in Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index.

At least 254 people are killed in Israeli assaults throughout Lebanon following the Iran-US ceasefire.

Since its renewed attack on Lebanon, Israel's army claims to have carried out the biggest coordinated strike throughout the nation.

Hours after a truce in the US-Israeli assault on Iran was declared, Israeli strikes unexpectedly struck a number of densely populated business and residential areas in central Beirut, killing hundreds and injuring over 1,000.

According to Lebanon's Civil Defense, the attacks on Wednesday resulted in at least 254 fatalities and 1,165 injuries.

Following Israel's "more than 100 airstrikes" around Lebanon, Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine declared that the country was experiencing a "dangerous escalation."

 "Victims are still being transported to hospitals by ambulances. Nassereddine told Al Jazeera, "We implore international organizations to support the Lebanese health sector."

Since launching a fresh military operation in Lebanon on March 2, Israel's army claimed to have executed its biggest coordinated strike throughout the nation. Beirut, the Bekaa Valley, and southern Lebanon were the targets of the attacks.

Hezbollah infrastructure was the goal of the attacks, according to Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz.

Hundreds of Hezbollah militants at command centers around Lebanon were the target of an unexpected strike by the Israeli military. In a video statement, Katz declared, "This is the biggest concentrated blow Hezbollah has suffered since Operation Beepers," alluding to a significant pager bomb operation against Hezbollah in 2024.

The Israeli military claimed that "steps were taken to mitigate harm to uninvolved individuals as much as possible" and stated that "the majority of the infrastructure that was struck was located within the heart of the civilian population."

As terrified residents fled into the streets, plumes of smoke could be seen rising above Beirut and the suburbs.

According to the Lebanese Red Cross, 100 of its ambulances were reacting to the attacks, and personnel were attempting to get the injured to medical facilities.

 Malcolm Webb of Al Jazeera reported from Beirut that "we could hear a series of enormous, deep, booming explosions coming not just from the southern suburbs but many other parts of the city."

From Beirut, Malcolm Webb of Al Jazeera stated that "we could hear a series of enormous, deep, booming explosions coming not just from the southern suburbs but many other parts of the city."

The bombings targeted "civilian areas in the southern suburbs of Beirut, the capital, Sidon, southern Lebanon, and the Bekaa Valley," according to Hezbollah, which denounced them.

Nabih Berri, the speaker of the Lebanese House, described the assaults as a "full-fledged war crime."

Lessons learned from the testimony of intelligence professionals during the conflict with Iran

For the first time since the start of the Iran conflict three weeks ago, senior Trump administration officials gave public testimony on Wednesday.

During their testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee, officials such as Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and FBI Director Kash Patel were questioned about the administration's frequently contradictory and confusing claims regarding the Iran war and the underlying intelligence.

The testimony was given one day after Joe Kent, the head of the National The fight against terrorism Center, resigned as the most prominent White House member due to the conflict. Kent did this while implying that the government had misrepresented Iran's immediate threat. Tulsi Gabbard

Trump's most significant allegations regarding the battle were denied or not confirmed by Intelligence authorities.

What these officials would say about the Trump administration's numerous questionable claims regarding the Iran war was the most important question heading into the session. After all, these officials witnessed the intelligence, and they were testifying under the threat of perjury.

On Wednesday, they frequently failed to support or refuted the assertions made by Trump and the government.

Regarding Iran's nuclear program, Trump said in his State of the Union speech last month that they were "starting it all over" and that Iran had "attempted to rebuild their nuclear program" following his June strikes on that program.

Steve Witk off, a White House adviser, went so far as to declare that Iran was "probably a week away from having industrial-grade bomb-making material." Additionally, the White House has stated that Iran poses a "imminent nuclear threat."

However, Gabbard presented a completely different story in her planned opening remarks. Tulsi Gabbard

"Operation Midnight Hammer (in June) destroyed Iran's nuclear enrichment program," she stated. "Since then, no attempts have been made to rebuild their enrichment capability."

Notably, Gabbard skipped over this part of her introduction. She said that her "time was running long" when asked why.

"Yes," she responded when Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia asked if that was still the intelligence community's conclusion.

Trump asserted that Iran was developing intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that would "soon reach the United States of America" in his State of the Union speech.

However, US intelligence has not stated that. Additionally, Gabbard reaffirmed a prior assessment in her prepared statement that Iran "could use" current technology "to begin to develop a militarily viable ICBM before 2035 should Tehran attempt to pursue that capability." According to Gabbard, the evaluation will be revised in view of the ongoing conflict.

Ratcliffe refused to provide a timeframe when Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton of Arkansas highlighted estimates from other analysts that Iran might have had an ICBM "to threaten the United States in as few as six months."

Instead, Ratcliffe stated that Cotton had good reason to be worried and that "if left unimpeded... they would have the ability to range missiles to the continental US."

Finally, Gabbard refused to support Trump's assertion last week that no experts had predicted Iran would strike its Gulf neighbors in retaliation for an attack. Iran has really discussed that prospect in public, and it was no secret.

Gabbard refrained from immediately responding to Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon's query regarding Trump's assertion.

Gabbard failed to comment on whether she briefed Trump on the prospect, claiming "internal conversations," when asked by Democratic Vice Chairman Mark Warner of Virginia. She also claimed not to be "aware of those remarks."

  The conflicting messages on Iran's "imminent" threat

 Whether Iran posed a "imminent" threat that justified going to war is perhaps the more subjective primary question.

The Trump administration has provided a number of explanations for why that occurred, many of which have not held up to examination.

Iran's regime is "intact" but "degraded," according to the head of US intelligence.

 The Iranian regime is "intact" but "largely degraded," according to the US intelligence chief on Wednesday.

Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence, and other senior Trump administration officials spent more than two hours testifying on global dangers to the United States during a congressional hearing.

It was the first intelligence briefing to be made public since the conflict started in late February, and it took place the day after a senior counterterrorism official resigned, stating that Iran did not constitute an immediate threat to the United States.
The US had foreseen problems in the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial maritime passage, according to Gabbard, who oversees the nation's intelligence activities.

"The IC [intelligence community] assesses the regime in Iran appears to be intact, but largely degraded due to attacks on its leadership and military capabilities," she stated.

When Senator Jon Ossoff, a Democrat, repeatedly questioned Gabbard about whether she had considered Iran to be an immediate threat, she refused to respond. Gabbard appeared alongside the directors of the CIA, FBI, National Security Agency, and Defense Intelligence Agency.The president is the only one who can decide what constitutes an immediate threat, she stated.

Lawmakers and pundits from both parties have questioned why the US attacked the Islamic Republic and whether the Trump administration was aware of possible issues in the Strait of Hormuz on Iran's southern coast ever since the conflict started. According to President Donald Trump, Iran's nuclear weapons development posed a threat to both the US and Israel, which is why the US launched its attack.

In a resignation letter that was made public on Tuesday, Joe Kent resigned from his position as director of the national counterterrorism center, criticizing Trump for the war and stating that Iran had presented "no imminent threat" to the United States.
In his testimony on Wednesday, CIA Director John Ratcliffe stated that he disagreed with Kent.
"I think Iran has been a constant threat to the United States for an extended period of time, and posed an immediate threat at this time," he stated.

Gabbard claimed that Iran's military capabilities had been "largely destroyed" by US and Israeli assaults in the Middle East.
She said that "Iran was trying to recover from the severe damage to its nuclear infrastructure sustained during the 12-Day War and continued to refuse to comply with its nuclear obligations" according to the intelligence community's assessment.

In June 2025, the US and Israel launched a 12-day attack on Iran with the goal of eliminating any potential nuclear bomb production capability.
Gabbard claimed that those attacks "obliterated" Iran's nuclear enrichment program and that Iran had made "no efforts" to reconstruct it in written remarks prepared for the committee. However, she didn't read that claim out loud.

Gabbard claimed she had to cut her public statements because they were "running long" when Democratic Senator Mark Warner questioned her about the omission.Warner retorted, citing Trump's claim that military action against Iran was warranted due to its development of nuclear weapons. "So you chose to omit the parts that contradict the president," Warner said.

The role of intelligence personnel in Trump's decision to attack Iran was another question posed by lawmakers. An Independent senator from Maine named Angus King questioned whether they were "in the room" with Trump when he made his "final decision."
Ratcliffe did not know if there was a "single time where a decision was made," but he estimated that he had "dozens and dozens" of encounters with the president.

King also questioned whether Trump had been told by intelligence services that Iran may assault the Strait of Hormuz in the event of a battle with the United States. Since the start of the US-Israeli war, Iran has essentially closed off the crucial oil shipping route.

According to Ratcliffe, "the president gets briefings about intelligence constantly." He continued by saying that the Pentagon "took measures for force protection" and prepared for Iran to attack "US interests in energy sites across the region".
Iran "would likely hold the Strait of Hormuz," according to a "longstanding assessment" by the intelligence community, according to Gabbard. According to her, the US defense department implemented "pre-emptive planning measures" in response to that report.