Trump administration believes Iran missiles were 'intended to kill Americans,' Pence says

The Trump administration does not believe Iran intentionally missed Americans when it fired ballistic missiles at two Iraqi bases housing U.S. troops, Vice President Mike Pence says.

Pence in a Thursday interview on Today responded to reports that certain officials believed Iran was intentionally not aiming for any casualties when it launched its retaliatory attack against the Iraqi bases this week, with CNN reporting Wednesday some in the administration think "Iran could have directed their missiles to hit areas that are populated by Americans — but specifically did not."

Pence disputed this on Thursday, saying the ballistic missiles "we believe were intended to kill Americans. We have intelligence to support that that was the intention of the Iranians."

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During his Today appearance, Pence also responded to a backlash from Democrats and some Republicans to a congressional briefing Wednesday on Trump's decision to order a drone strike killing Iranian General Qassem Soleimani, which Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) slammed as "insulting" and that Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said provided no new information that "I hadn't seen in a newspaper already."

In response to this criticism, Pence told Today the administration couldn't share "some of the most compelling evidence that Qassem Soleimani was preparing an imminent attack" because it would "compromise" sources. This answer, NBC News' Frank Thorp observed, "will not go over well with members of Congress (who have a security clearance) who left those briefings unsatisfied." Brendan Morrow