US Secretary Rubio says planned Israeli action against Iran prompted US strikes

U.S. strikes on Tehran were launched preemptively after a planned Israeli attack on Iran threatened American forces, escalating tensions amid ongoing nuclear negotiations.

Daphne Psaledakis and Costas Pitas/Reuters

March 03, 2026

US Secretary Rubio says planned Israeli action against Iran prompted US strikes

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the media on the day of a briefing for Congressional leaders on the situation in Iran, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 2, 2026.

Kylie Cooper/Reuters

Planned Israeli action against Iran that would have seen retaliation against American forces prompted the United States to launch its weekend strikes against Tehran, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Monday.

"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.

On Saturday, Israel's defense minister Israel Katz described its missile attack against Iran as pre-emptive.

Iran has said the U.S. assault was unprovoked, occurring as Tehran and Washington were in negotiations on a nuclear accord.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said the U.S. faced an imminent threat from Iran that justified war, although he gave no specifics and some U.S. lawmakers said he has shown no evidence to back that assessment.

-Daphne Psaledakis and Costas Pitas/Reuters