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“There was no discussion in the Gang of Eight briefings that these are four embassies that were being targeted and we have exquisite intelligence that shows these are the specific targets,” he said, referring to the group of congressional leaders and Republican and Democratic leaders of the intelligence committees. “I don’t recall frankly there being a specific discussion about bombing the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.”

He added, “In the view of the briefers, there was plotting, there was an effort to escalate being planned, but they didn’t have specificity.”

The strike on General Suleimani, who was responsible for the killing and maiming of hundreds of American troops at the height of the Iraq war, prompted retaliatory strikes last week. The Iranian military launched 16 ballistic missiles at bases in Iraq where Americans are stationed, bringing both countries to the brink of war.

When the Iranian retaliatory strikes did not kill or injure anyone, both sides pulled back. But hours after the strikes, a Ukrainian airliner was shot down over Tehran, Iran’s capital, by Iranian air defenses, killing all 176 aboard. Iranian officials said the downing of the plane was “unintentional” and the result of heightened tensions in the region.

The Trump administration has also tried to keep up pressure on Tehran. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures” that new sanctions the administration had announced last week against Iran would target industries beyond its oil sector to pressure its government.

“This is all really about cutting off money, oil sales, other revenue that would be funding their terrorist activities and their nuclear weapons development,” Mr. Mnuchin said. “We don’t want to target the people of Iran.”

Despite the new measures, questions remain about the Trump administration’s ability to further ramp up sanctions on Iran after having already used such tools so aggressively.