US intelligence chief Tulsi Gabbard on Thursday said that United States and Israel have different objectives during the military campaign in Iran.During a hearing in front of the House of intelligence committee, Gabbard said that Trump’s objective are to destroy Iran’s ballistic missiles launching capabilities and their 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.”“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 added.Earlier in the day, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth said that there was no “time frame” for ending the war against Iran.“It will be at the president’s choosing, ultimately, where we say, ‘Hey, we’ve achieved what we need to,'” he told reporters.‘Immense blessing for Israel’Meanwhile, an Israeli minister said that strikes on Iran were “an immense blessing” for Israel.Zeev Elkin, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party, said, “The debate should not be about when (the war) will end, but about how we are going to prolong and deepen the damage caused,” said Zeev Elkin, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party.”“Every day of the campaign is an immense blessing for the State of Israel,” Elkin added, speaking on army radio.An Israeli minister said on Thursday that the US-Israeli strikes against Iran were “an immense blessing” for Israel, nearly three weeks into the Middle East war. Israel and the United States launched strikes on Iran on February 28, triggering a war that has since engulfed the Middle East. Trump distances US from Israel’s attack on South Pars gas fieldEarlier in the day, Trump distanced US from Israel’s attack on Iran’s South Pars gas field, describing his Israeli allies as having “violently lashed out” at the facility and promising that it would not happen again if Tehran refrains from attacking Qatar. He claimed Iran responded without full information, launching what he described as an unjustified strike on part of Qatar’s LNG infrastructure.Trump said the US had “nothing to do” with the strike on the offshore gasfield facilities in Iran’s Bushehr province on Wednesday, which was followed by Iran pledging to strike energy facilities in Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.In a social media post, Trump said Israel had targeted a section of the major gas facility “out of anger” over developments in the Middle East, stressing that Washington had no prior knowledge of the attack and that Qatar was “in no way” involved.“Israel, out of anger for what has taken place in the Middle East, has violently lashed out at a major facility known as South Pars Gas Field in Iran. A relatively small section of the whole has been hit. The United States knew nothing about this particular attack, and the country of Qatar was in no way, shape, or form, involved with it, nor did it have any idea that it was going to happen,” wrote Trump.“Unfortunately, Iran did not know this, or any of the pertinent facts pertaining to the South Pars attack, and unjustifiably and unfairly attacked a portion of Qatar’s LNG Gas facility. No more attacks will be made by Israel pertaining to this extremely important and valuable South Pars Field unless Iran unwisely decides to attack a very innocent, in this case, Qatar – In which instance the United States of America, with or without the help or consent of Israel, will massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field at an amount of strength and power that Iran has never seen or witnessed before,” he said.“I do not want to authorize this level of violence and destruction because of the long term implications that it will have on the future of Iran, but if Qatar’s LNG is again attacked, I will not hesitate to do so. Thank you for your attention to this matter,” added Trump.Meanwhile, Israel has continued targeting senior Iranian leadership, including the reported killing of intelligence minister Esmail Khatib and other top security figures. Iran has retaliated with missile barrages on Israel, including strikes that caused casualties in the occupied West Bank.
