Rep. Tenney to Newsmax: Iran Regime 'Largely Degraded' but Threat Remains

Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., said Thursday that U.S. intelligence officials offered a sobering but useful public assessment of Iran's weakened military position, while arguing the United States must keep pressure on Tehran and continue confronting threats tied to the regime.

Tenney, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, spoke on “National Report" after this week's worldwide threats hearings on Capitol Hill, where Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, and FBI Director Kash Patel appeared before lawmakers as the Trump administration faces intensifying scrutiny over the conflict with Iran.

"It was really important to hear what the mission was, what our intelligence community had to say in both the open and the closed session," Tenney said.

Her remarks came after Gabbard told senators Wednesday that Iran's ruling system remained in place despite significant military losses.

"The regime in Iran appears to be intact, but largely degraded due to attacks on its leadership and military capabilities," Gabbard said.

"Its conventional military power projection capabilities have largely been destroyed, leaving limited options," she said.

"Iran's strategic position has been significantly degraded," Gabbard added.

Tenney said she has focused heavily on Iran since the 2022 death of Mahsa Amini, the 22-year-old woman whose death in custody after being detained by the morality police ignited nationwide protests and drew global condemnation.

"I've been involved in this Iranian situation very deeply since 2022, when the regime killed Mahsa Amini, a young woman who dared to take off her hijab and was charged with clothing violations and was killed in the hands of the morality police," Tenney said.

She described Iran's rulers as "a brutal regime" and said the government had spent years enriching itself while denying ordinary Iranians political freedom and economic opportunity.

Tenney also raised concerns about information controls inside Iran, saying many people there remain cut off from outside reporting and are left with state propaganda.

That issue has drawn renewed attention as rights groups continue to accuse Tehran of throttling internet access during unrest, including during protests tied to Amini's death and again during demonstrations earlier this year.

Iran has long been designated by the U.S. government as a state sponsor of terrorism, and American officials have repeatedly accused Tehran of backing armed proxy groups across the Middle East, including Hezbollah and Hamas.

Tenney echoed that argument, saying Iran's leadership used its resources "not to help the Iranian people, but to spread terror" through terror financing, trafficking and regional destabilization.

She also tied the Iran threat to border security, pointing to the northern U.S. border and criticizing New York state officials over limits on cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

"And 85% of the people on the foreign terror watch list were coming across the northern border," Tenney said.

Publicly available CBP data and outside fact checks show most known or suspected terrorist watchlist encounters at land ports in fiscal 2023 and 2024 occurred on the northern border, though such encounters represent a tiny fraction of total border contacts and do not by themselves establish operational terror plots inside the United States.

Tenney said numbers had "come down significantly" since President Donald Trump returned to office and tightened border enforcement, but added that "we still have a lot of work to do."

GET TODAY NEWSMAX+:

NEWSMAX is the fastest-growing cable news channel in America with more than 30 million people watching!

Reuters Institute reports NEWSMAX is one of the top news brands in the U.S.

You need to watch NEWSMAX today.

Get it with great shows from Rob Schmitt, Greta Van Susteren, Greg Kelly, Carl Higbie, Rob Finnerty – and many more!

Find the NEWSMAX channel on your cable system – Go Here Now

BEST OFFER:

Sign up for NEWSMAX+ and get NEWSMAX, our streaming channel NEWSMAX2 and our military channel World at War.

Find hundreds of shows, movies and specials.

Even get Jon Voight's special series and President Trump's comedy programs and much more!

Watch NEWSMAX+ on your smartphone or home TV app.

Watch NEWSMAX anytime, anywhere!