Tom Cotton

Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington.

Republican chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Tom Cotton, celebrated the operation on CNN and called it necessary to deter Iran from long-range missile development.

to kill the archer on the ground than it is to shoot his arrow out of the sky.

Cotton said the stage is set for regime change.

But ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Mark Warner, a Democrat, called the operation a, quote, war of choice.

He said he's seen no intelligence that Iran posed a direct threat to the U.S.

before the attack.

Warner told CNN regime change is unlikely.

Both Warner and Cotton expect continued fighting in the coming days.

Luke Garrett, NPR News, Washington.

Here, play this clip.

Inventory, they had continued as had been declared to

pursue their intention of nuclear enrichment.

They had continued- Rubio said they weren't enriching.

They had continued their intention to pursue nuclear enrichment.

They had said and declared that they were going to do that.

Their programs had not been completely abolished and their intention had not been abolished.

They remained a threat.

And the fact that we had the ability

to intervene, that eminence is incredibly important.