Pushing back against questions about whether the plot was a serious effort endorsed by top Iranian officials, House of Representatives Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers said it appeared amateurish only because the United States was able to thwart it so early in the planning stages.
"We were very fortunate," Rogers said on ABC's "This Week" program. "We got to see this, we the US government got to see this unfold from the beginning." Rogers and Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein said the United States should respond aggressively but stopped short of calling for military action against Iran, instead pushing for tougher economic sanctions.
Feinstein said she was initially skeptical when she was first briefed about the alleged plot in early September but now believed "it's very real."
"Our country should not be looking to go to war," Feinstein told the "Fox News Sunday" program. "We should be looking to stop bad behavior, short of war." Feinstein and Rogers said the United States should push Russia and China to get behind sanctions, arguing the two powers have scuttled past efforts to crack down on Iran over its nuclear ambitions.
"Put pressure on the Chinese and the Russians and say, listen, you're either going to stand with the nation that is engaged in nation-state terrorism or you're going to stand with the rest of the international community," Rogers said.
Asked whether there should be a military response, Rogers said the option should not be taken "off the table." "I think there are a lot of things that we should do to make sure that they understand this is unacceptable," he said.
Feinstein said Iran is "escalating" its nuclear development programs and the assassination plot is one more reason to act now to make clear Tehran must change its policies.
"Absent that at one time or another, if you project out a number of years, we are on a collision course," she said.
