Partisan dispute over Iran strikes risks 'doom loop', ex-intel official says

A former top intelligence official who delivered President Donald Trump his daily briefings during his first term said the political row over US strikes on Iran had gone toxic.

Beth Sanner told Politico in an interview that the toll of the strikes would become clear but the discourse was clouding the facts. Trump said the attacks "obliterated" Iran's nuclear program while a Pentagon assessment and Democrats doubt that.

"Now we’re in this really terrible doom loop where we’re having a conversation — this battle between obliterated and not obliterated — and in fact, we’re obliterating the nuance in the way that this conversation is going."

“We can have two things be true,” Sanner added. “We can have it be true that the bombing campaign was successful in destroying particular facilities or capabilities at particular facilities, and we still have questions about the Iran nuclear program and what might be left.”

"I think it will take a couple weeks to do a really good job" analyzing the damage, Sanner said.