Just four days after the invasion of Iran, the Trump Administration has already shared several different explanations as to why, exactly, the invasion took place.
According to The Daily Beast, Secretary of State Marco Rubio had stated earlier this week that the war began after Israel had decided to attack Iran, and the U.S. then decided to join the attack. After this comment drew lots of attention, with Axios reporting that it caused the more Israel-skeptical wing of MAGA to “erupt.”
“We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action,” Rubio said earlier this week. “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 … And then we would all be here answering questions about why we knew that and didn’t act,” the secretary of state said.
On Tuesday, per the Beast, Trump re-emerged to contradict Rubio.
Reporter: Did Israel force your hand to launch these strikes against Iran?
Trump: No. I might have forced their hand. We were having negotiations with these lunatics. It was my opinion that they were going to attack first. pic.twitter.com/hBCHotUZvx
— Acyn (@Acyn) March 3, 2026
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Asked at the White House by a reporter if Israel had forced his hand, Trump replied, “No. I might have forced their hand. We were having negotiations with these lunatics. It was my opinion that they were going to attack first.”
The Axios story quoted several MAGA figures who objected to Rubio’s remarks.
“So he’s flat out telling us that we’re in a war with Iran because Israel forced our hand. This is basically the worst possible thing he could have said,” Matt Walsh said on X.
“Rubio’s comments are a record scratch moment. He said what most guessed was the case. That he said [this] out loud … is a sea change in foreign policy,” Mike Cernovich said on X. “There will be massive calls for a walk back.”
“If we knew Israel would strike and Iran would retaliate against us, where was the coordination?” Steve Bannon said on his podcast. “We need a strategic explanation.”
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
