Washington: Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on Monday, said that the United States carried out strikes against Iran after learning of an Israeli operation and fearing that Tehran would retaliate against US forces.
“We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties,” Rubio told reporters.
‘We were not going to sit there and absorb a blow’: Rubio
Rubio added that Iran had instructed field commanders to respond automatically against US forces in case of an attack. “If we stood and waited for that attack to come first before we hit them, we would suffer much higher casualties. And so the president made the very wise decision to hit alongside Israel,” he said.
When asked whether the US faced an imminent threat from Iran, Rubio again cited Israel’s plans. “There absolutely was an imminent threat, and the imminent threat was that we knew that if Iran was attacked — and we believed they would be attacked — that they would immediately come after us. We were not going to sit there and absorb a blow,” he said.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth previously said Israel carried out the strike in Tehran on Saturday that killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and other officials after intelligence indicated a meeting.
Rubio, however, stressed that the Trump administration believed the strike was necessary regardless of timing. “No matter what, ultimately this operation needed to happen,” he said.
Rubio clarified the US objectives behind the attack on Iran. “We hope that the Iranian people can overthrow this government and establish a new future for that country. We would love for that to be possible. But the objective of this mission is the destruction of their ballistic missile capabilities and of their naval capabilities.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister responds to Rubio’s remarks
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi sharply responded to Rubios’s remarks on X, rejecting claims of an imminent threat. “Mr. Rubio admitted what we all knew: U.S. has entered a war of choice on behalf of Israel. There was never any so-called Iranian ‘threat’,” he wrote. Araghchi added, “Shedding of both American and Iranian blood is thus on Israel Firsters. American people deserve better and should take back their country.”