![\"Attacks](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2019\/05\/Attacks_on_Ships_in_Middle_East_Coordinated_by_Iran_Regime__US_Senator_Lindsey_Graham.jpg\" "\\"Attacks_on_Ships_in_Middle_East_Coordinated_by_Iran_Regime__US_Senator_Lindsey_Graham\\"")
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By\u00a0Amir Taghati<\/p>\n
Republican United States Senator Lindsey Graham said on Tuesday that top U.S. administration officials told senators in a briefing the recent attacks on shipping and a pipeline in the Middle East was directed by the Iranian regime.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey explained to us how the Iranian threat streams were different than in the past, that the attack on the ships and the pipeline was coordinated and directed by the Iranian government, the ayatollah,\u201d Senator Graham told reporters.<\/p>\n
U.S. officials who briefed Congress about Iran on Tuesday sought to convince lawmakers that President Donald Trump\u2019s administration wants to deter Tehran\u2019s aggression, not attack the regime, members of Congress said.<\/p>\n
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Joseph Dunford and Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan held a classified briefing for the full House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
The administration officials held a similar briefing, also behind closed doors, for the full Senate later on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope they\u2019re tamping down (the rhetoric). They tried to give that impression,\u201d Democratic Representative Eliot Engel, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told reporters after the classified briefing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is no intention to go to war in the region. This is a deterrent operation to stop Iran\u2019s escalation and aggression,\u201d Representative Mike McCaul, the ranking Republican on the House foreign affairs panel, told reporters.<\/p>\n
Republican Senator Mitt Romney said the action taken by the administration \u201cis totally appropriate\u201d and sends a message that \u201cif you attack our people, there will be a response.\u201d<\/p>\n
Romney characterized it as defensive in nature and meant to deter the Iranian regime from \u201cmalign\u201d actions.<\/p>\n
Based in part on wire reports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Amir Taghati Republican United States Senator Lindsey Graham said on Tuesday that top U.S. administration officials told senators in a briefing the recent attacks on shipping and a pipeline in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":53169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[178],"class_list":{"0":"post-26235","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-terrorism-a-fundamentalism","8":"tag-save"},"yoast_head":"\n