Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said, "Everything I have heard from the administration before and after these strikes on Iran confirms this is a war of choice with no strategic endgame."

Himes said he had told Secretary of State Marco Rubio directly that military action in the Middle East "almost never ends well for the United States".

"It does not appear that (President) Donald Trump has learned the lessons of history," he said.

Ahead of the strikes, Rubio reached out personally to top lawmakers at the Capitol, The Associated Press reported, citing a person familiar with the notifications who requested anonymity to discuss them.

The notifications mentioned ballistic missiles, but did not indicate the strikes would be so expansive or the goals so broad, the report added.

However, a spokesman from the office of Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, confirmed on Saturday morning that the senator had not been notified.

Reed said in a statement dated Friday that the administration did not provide Congress with any "real briefings or intelligence" on the ongoing massive military operations against Iran.

Xinhua - Agencies