US secretary of state Marco Rubio has said that the Trump administration ordered pre-emptive strikes on Iran because of Israel's determination to launch an attack and the certainty that US troops would be targeted in retaliation. Speaking to reporters at the Capitol, Rubio said: “It was abundantly clear that if Iran came under attack by anyone – the United States or Israel or anyone – they were going to respond, and respond against the United States.” He added that Washington knew an Israeli action was coming and that it would precipitate an attack against American forces, prompting the US to strike first to avoid higher casualties.
The explanation came during a closed-door briefing for top members of Congress on Monday evening, attended by Rubio, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and joint chiefs of staff chair Dan Caine. The briefing was held ahead of a vote expected later this week in the House of Representatives on a war powers resolution that could force President Donald Trump to end hostilities against Iran. Reactions split along party lines, with Republicans defending the administration's decision and Democrats condemning what they view as an unnecessary conflict with unclear goals.
Senate Democratic minority leader Chuck Schumer said before the briefing: “This is Trump’s war. This is a war of choice. He has no strategy, he has no endgame.” After the briefing, Schumer described the officials' responses as “completely and totally insufficient” and said it raised more questions than it answered. Democratic vice-chair of the Senate intelligence committee Mark Warner expressed concern about the implications of the US allowing Israel to essentially force it into a new war, noting that there was no imminent threat to the United States from Iran, only to Israel.
Vice-president JD Vance said in a Fox News interview on Monday night that the US aim was to ensure “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon”. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Fox News that Iran had been building new underground sites that would make its ballistic missile and atomic bomb programs “immune within months”, and that if no action was taken now, none could be taken in the future. Since the conflict began, the US and Israel have carried out waves of airstrikes across Iran, killing several top military and political leaders including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The US military has acknowledged six service member deaths, while the Iranian Red Crescent Society reports more than 500 people killed in the country.
