US and Israeli war aims in Iran are not the same, US spy chief says

American and Israeli objectives for the war on Iran are not the same, US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard says, with Israel focused on disabling Iran’s leadership and US President Donald Trump focused on destroying Iran’s ballistic missile program and navy.

“The objectives that have been laid out by the president are different from the objectives that have been laid out by the Israeli government,” Gabbard tells the House intelligence committee’s annual hearing on worldwide threats to the United States.

“We can see through the operations that the Israeli government has been focused on disabling the Iranian leadership. The president has stated that his objectives are to destroy Iran’s ballistic missiles launching capability, their ballistic missile production capability, and their navy,” she says.

For their part, Israeli leaders have said that destroying Iran’s missile capabilities is, in fact, among their war aims, which are degrading the Iranian regime’s military capabilities, distancing threats posed by Iran and to “create the conditions” for the Iranian people to topple the regime.

Meanwhile, US officials have given varying answers regarding the war’s aims. They almost always list the destruction of Iran’s missile program, while often also including the destruction of its navy. Ceasing Iran’s support for armed proxies and preventing Iran from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon have also been listed as war aims.

As for regime change, while US officials have indeed generally left it off their lists of war aims, they have also said it would be a welcome byproduct of the joint strikes with Israel, while President Donald Trump has also said he wants to help select Iran’s next leader.