U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that planned Israeli operations against Iran, which could have provoked retaliatory attacks on the U.S. forces, led the United States to carry out its strikes on Tehran.
"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.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi responded on social media, stating: "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.'"
"Shedding of both American and Iranian blood is thus on Israel Firsters," Araghchi added, noting that "American people deserve better and should take back their country."
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump defended his actions amid growing criticism that he has not sufficiently explained the rationale for initiating a conflict with Iran now or outlined a clear endgame.
The criticism is coming from both the political left and Trump’s own “Make America Great Again” supporters, as the conflict spreads, energy costs rise and casualties mount in the Middle East in what the administration describes as potentially just the opening phase of the war.
Facing criticism over the lack of clarity, Trump and his top aides laid out four objectives for the war, all of them military in nature.
They include destroying Iran's navy and military capacities, ending the clerical state's support for regional militants and preventing it from developing a nuclear bomb.
