WASHINGTON (TNND) — On Tuesday afternoon, Secretary of State Marco Rubio attempted to clarify remarks he made Monday, when he essentially blamed Israel for dragging the U.S. into military action with Iran, saying the decision to strike came from President Donald Trump, not Israel.
When speaking to reporters Monday, Rubio said U.S. officials were aware of imminent Israeli action and believed it would trigger retaliation against American forces in the region. (TNND)
“He made a decision to go first because he concluded we were not gonna get hit first. We were not going to absorb a blow from them. We were gonna go first. He was not going to run the risk that they could attack us before we could,” Rubio explained.
When speaking to reporters Monday, Rubio said U.S. officials were aware of imminent Israeli action and believed it would trigger retaliation against American forces in the region. That assessment, he said at the time, factored into the administration’s decision to launch preemptive strikes.
“We knew there was going to be Israeli action,” Rubio said on Monday. “We knew that would precipitate an attack against American forces and we knew that if we didn’t pre-emptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties.”
The comments quickly ignited controversy in Washington and beyond, with critics arguing they raised new questions about whether the United States was drawn into a broader conflict because of Israel’s timeline.
Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson sharply criticized the move on his show, calling it “Israel’s war” and not America’s. The remarks reflect a growing divide within the “America First” wing of President Trump’s political base, where skepticism of foreign military entanglements has long been a defining principle.
President Donald Trump rejected the notion that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pressured the United States into action. Speaking in the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump suggested the opposite — that he may have accelerated Israel’s timeline amid concerns Iran was preparing its own attack.
“If anything, I might have forced Israel’s hand,” Trump said, adding that both nations were prepared to act.
On Capitol Hill, lawmakers pressed defense officials during a hearing Tuesday, with independent Sen. Angus King suggesting Rubio had “inadvertently told the truth” about the sequence of events. Defense officials did not dispute Rubio’s characterization.
Meanwhile, prominent MAGA-aligned figures, including former Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, publicly questioned the administration’s posture, arguing the movement was founded on prioritizing U.S. interests over foreign conflicts.
As debate intensifies, the Senate is preparing to vote as soon as Wednesday on a bipartisan resolution that would require congressional authorization for any further military strikes against Iran — setting up a high-stakes test of executive war powers and Republican unity.
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