WASHINGTON — Democrats and Republicans came out of a classified briefing on the Iran situation describing two totally different worlds Wednesday.

Democrats said the senior Trump administration officials who briefed Congress would not explain the supposed imminent threat posed by Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani that justified the need to kill him, and they called for Congress to seize back its constitutional authority to sign off on new military escalations.

“It is abundantly clear they have no strategy for what comes next,” said Rep. Seth Moulton, who said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper were “grossly unspecific” in their briefing.

Rep. Gerry Connelly said he came away utterly unconvinced there was any new or imminent threat to America. “There was no rationale beyond a graduate school thesis text,” he said.

But Republicans left the briefing saying they were confident the killing of Soleimani was justified because he was planning new attacks on American personnel beyond his usual work crisscrossing the region.

“We have to speak very carefully on this, but I can tell you with assurance this was not the same thing that we’ve been seeing for the past few years. This was something different,” said Rep. Chris Stewart.

But in the Senate, there were two loud exceptions to the partisan split, as Republican Sens. Rand Paul and Mike Lee emphatically denounced the briefing as inadequate. Lee said the White House officials refused to provide details while warning senators that publicly debating the president’s decision would only embolden Iran.

“They’re in the process of telling us we need to be good little boys and girls and not debate this in public. I find that absolutely insane. I think it’s unacceptable,” said Lee.

Paul said it is egregious that the administration is using a 2002 Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) against Saddam Hussein after 9/11 to justify attacks on Iran in 2019. “That is absurd. That’s an insult,” he said. Both senators said they would support some form of war powers resolution limiting the president’s ability to take action without congressional approval.