State Department tells Americans worldwide to 'exercise increased caution'

Hours after National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent resigned over his objections to the war in Iran. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard on Tuesday publicly backed President Donald Trump’s authority to determine what constitutes an imminent threat on the war.

“As our Commander in Chief, he is responsible for determining what is and is not an imminent threat, and whether or not to take action he deems necessary to protect the safety and security of our troops, the American people and our country,” Gabbard tweeted.

In the lengthy X post on Tuesday, Gabbard stopped short of directly addressing Kent’s resignation, or Kent by name.

“The Office of the Director of National Intelligence is responsible for helping coordinate and integrate all intelligence to provide the President and Commander in Chief with the best information available to inform his decisions,” Gabbard added.

“After carefully reviewing all the information before him, President Trump concluded that the terrorist Islamist regime in Iran posed an imminent threat and he took action based on that conclusion,” she continued.

More than a dozen unmanned MQ-9 Reaper drones have been lost in combat as part of the operations against Iran, two U.S. officials confirmed to ABC News.

The Reaper drones were either lost to Iranian missile fire or were destroyed on the ground by incoming fire.

Reaper drones can be used as reconnaissance aircraft, but they are also equipped with Hellfire missiles used to strike at targets.

The loss of this number of Reapers is indicative of how many of these key unmanned aircraft must be operating as part of the U.S. operations against Iran.

The loss of the drones in the Iran war was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps confirmed that Basij commander Gholamreza Soleimani has been killed in an "Israeli-U.S. attack."

In a statement on Tuesday, the IRGC said that Soleimani's assassination shows "importance and role of the Basij" in the fight against Israel and the United States.

The Israel Defense Forces said on Tuesday they are deepening their position into Southern Lebanon, claiming they are creating "additional layer of security for residents of northern Israel."

"In recent days, IDF troops from the 36th Division have begun limited and targeted ground operations aimed at enhancing the forward defense area," the IDF said in a statement.

"The troops are continuing efforts to establish the forward defensive posture in order to remove threats and create an additional layer of security for residents of northern Israel," the IDF said.