Senators in dark as U.S. sends home diplomats from Iraq

The lack of an explanation was broached on Wednesday during a hearing of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee by members of both parties, who said lawmakers were in the dark as to what was going on in with Iran, and why American diplomats were suddenly in danger in Iraq.

"The Trump Administration has not provided any information to this committee on the intelligence behind their decisions," said Sen. Robert Menendez (D-NJ).

The call by Menendez for an immediate briefing was echoed by Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) - who was then told by committee chairman Sen. Jim Risch (R-ID), that he had been briefed by the Trump administration on the situation - which made clear that Democrats had been left out of the discussions.

Across Capitol Hill, Democrats in the House and Senate all but accused the Trump Administration of trying to provoke Iran into a military conflict.

"This escalating crisis with Iran was entirely predictable, and entirely purposeful," said Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT). "This seems like escalation with no end game."

Echoing that was Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who warned the White House not to get into any fight with Iran without the express approval of the Congress, as Paul also said he feared the Trump Administration was setting up negotiations with Iran to fail.

But some Republicans pushed back - as U.S. allies cast doubts on evidence that there was an immediate threat from Iran, as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) assailed unidentified officials quoted in one story in the New York Times.

The Trump Administration seemed unlikely to offer briefings to all members immediately - instead that seemed likely to take place in both the House and Senate next week.