‘Is It Reactive Or Proactive?’: Jack Reed Asks DNI Avril Haines About Iran’s Strategy After Oct. 7

4 months ago

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Transcript

00:00 both the director and the general.

00:02 The intelligence community, I believe,

00:06 and correct me if I'm inaccurate,

00:07 concluded that Iran was not aware

00:10 prior to the attack by Hamas of the operation,

00:14 but they seem to be exploiting it significantly

00:19 by using their proxies throughout the region.

00:24 And as you pointed out, Director Haynes,

00:29 our retaliation in September, 82 different strikes,

00:34 has for the moment inhibited many of their proxies.

00:39 Still, the Houthis are conducting operations.

00:42 Can you give me an assessment of the Iranian strategy?

00:49 Is it reactive or proactive?

00:53 Are they trying to organize a decisive

00:58 victory or are they simply reacting to what's going on

01:03 or trying to take advantage of what's going on?

01:05 - Thank you so much, Chairman.

01:09 I think really it's a combination of all of those things,

01:13 which is to say that even though we don't assess

01:17 that they were aware of the particular attack

01:20 at the moment that it occurred in the way that it did,

01:22 they obviously have been supportive of Hamas in the past,

01:26 have provided funding and training

01:28 and other assistance of different types.

01:32 And the reality is that in many ways,

01:35 they support efforts to counter Israel as we've seen.

01:39 They see Israel as their enemy and they have long done so.

01:43 And so as things have developed,

01:48 I think they're taking advantage of every opportunity

01:51 to ultimately try to undermine the state of Israel

01:55 in many respects.

01:55 So that is certainly part of what they're doing.

01:58 It is also, I think, true that they're looking

02:01 to take advantage of opportunities

02:02 to enhance their influence in the region.

02:05 That is something that, again, they have long worked on,

02:10 whether it's through the Iranian-aligned militia groups

02:14 that we're all aware of in the region

02:16 or through their relationship with the Houthis

02:19 or through their relationship with Hamas

02:20 and, of course, one of their closest partners, Hezbollah.

02:23 And so in supporting them

02:26 and in also increasing their influence,

02:28 there is a kind of a long-term strategy

02:30 of trying to enhance that,

02:32 including in countries like Iraq and so on.

02:34 And so I think that's a fair,

02:36 but General Cruz may have more to add.

02:38 - General Cruz?

02:39 - I think I would just echo a couple of things

02:40 that the DNI mentioned.

02:41 One is that they have had a long-term strategy

02:44 over many decades and they have been long-term suppliers

02:47 and supporters of the groups already mentioned.

02:49 Within that larger strategy, this conflict came into being

02:52 and they've used every opportunity

02:54 to take advantage of the circumstances.

02:56 I wouldn't call it necessarily reactive,

02:58 but the ability to, within their larger construct,

03:00 increase their influence and come out.

03:03 At some point, this conflict will end.

03:05 Iran has gone through various sets of calculus over time

03:08 about escalation or not escalating

03:10 and I think they're navigating a path

03:12 by which they think they can create more influence

03:15 within the region for the longer-term environment

03:19 that we'll find at the end of the existing conflict.

03:22 - In looking at China, you mentioned, Director Haynes,

03:27 that, and both, I think, General Cruz,

03:32 that they're trying to use their economic power

03:36 throughout the world, supply chains.

03:38 That seems to be particularly the case

03:40 with strategic minerals.

03:42 Do you see us in a fight, quote-unquote,

03:48 over securing adequate strategic minerals?

03:52 'Cause these are essential to batteries and other things

03:57 that could be the source of power in the next generation.

04:01 - Yes, absolutely.

04:04 I mean, I think one way to think about this is as follows.

04:09 They have used rare earth elements and critical minerals

04:14 as a leverage point for achieving geopolitical outcomes

04:18 in different spaces because I think they both recognize

04:21 their capacity with respect to mining

04:24 and processing is significant and it gives them the ability

04:27 to sort of move forward on a plan for how do we control

04:30 the global supply chains in these areas

04:32 and recognizing that these are incredibly important

04:35 to the prosperity of many economic futures

04:40 for different countries and moving forward,

04:43 they've seen the ability to use that, again,

04:46 as a leverage point and what we've seen in this area

04:48 and I think their sort of history is a useful lesson

04:53 in this which is to say that they have actually passed laws

04:57 that from dating back decades now even

05:01 for being able to control the rare earth elements

05:04 and we saw them actually use this first, I think,

05:07 in the context of a dispute with Japan

05:10 over the Sakaku Islands where they ultimately

05:14 used their leverage there by cutting off exports

05:17 that were important to Japan's economy at the time

05:20 as a way of pressuring them in the context

05:22 of a land dispute and maritime dispute.

05:24 So I mean, I think that's an example of what we've seen.

05:27 We've also seen them pass export controls

05:29 of gallium and geranium more recently

05:31 and other things that are important

05:33 and again, using this as a leverage point

05:36 and I think what we have been trying to do

05:39 is try to help policy makers understand

05:42 how they're approaching this, where they are getting close

05:46 to having control over a critical supply chain

05:49 and then being able to highlight opportunities

05:52 for trying to disrupt that so that we can maintain

05:54 resilience in these areas.

05:55 - Thank you.

05:57 No need for response unless I'm inaccurate

05:59 but one of the key advantages they do

06:02 a tremendous amount of refining.

06:04 So these minerals could be, in fact,

06:06 I think Australia has a huge cache of these minerals

06:10 but the refining is all done in China

06:12 and that's the choke point.

06:13 - Yeah, lithium is a good example of this.

06:17 - Thank you.

06:18 Senator Fish please.

‘Is It Reactive Or Proactive?’: Jack Reed Asks DNI Avril Haines About Iran’s Strategy After Oct. 7

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