Rubio suggested that Israel was going to act unilaterally and strike Iran regardless — despite abundant evidence that this isn’t true — so the U.S. was forced to coordinate a strike first in order to prevent U.S. casualties. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been pushing for war with Iran for decades, and in December, Netanyahu reportedly asked Trump for approval to strike Iran during a meeting at Mar-a-Lago. “There was no imminent threat to the United States by the Iranians. Crucially, however, there is no evidence that Iran was an imminent threat to Israel, and Iran has never initiated a war against Israel. Indeed, Rubio, in yet more circular reasoning, said that the strikes were carried out to prevent American casualties.

Source: The Guardian March 04, 2026 06:22 UTC