National security adviser John Bolton called a highly unusual meeting at CIA headquarters last week with the Trump administration's top intelligence, diplomatic and military advisers to talk about Iran, NBC News reported.
The extraordinary gathering included CIA Director Gina Haspel, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joe Dunford, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats, the news outlet reported, citing multiple unnamed sources.
According to NBC News, national security meetings are typically held in the White House Situation Room, and it’s “extremely rare” for such high-level officials to gather at CIA headquarters.
The news outlet said its sources wouldn’t say if the talk related to the U.S. decision to dispatch a carrier strike group and bomber task force to the Middle East.
The meeting came amid rising tensions between the United States and Iran, where the Trump administration has levied tough sanctions. Democratic lawmakers have accused the White House of stoking tensions with Iran to lay the groundwork for war, the Times of Israel reported.
But even critics of the administration's hard-line Iran policy told NBC News there was good reason to move military assets in the Persian Gulf. "There is legitimate intelligence that the Iranians are preparing to launch attacks in the region," one unnamed former official told the news outlet.
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