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Rubio: "We Knew That There Was Going to Be an Israeli Action"

Evidence rating: CONFIRMED for both of Secretary of State Marco Rubio's statements (Barron's; CNN transcript and Forbes Breaking News video). STRONG for the Pentagon briefing to congressional staff (Reuters, via multiple reporters).

Why did the United States go to war with Iran on February 28, 2026, and why then? Two days in, the Secretary of State gave an answer on camera. The next day he took it back, on camera. Both clips matter.

March 2: the admission​

Explaining the timing of the joint U.S.–Israeli strikes, Rubio told reporters:

"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." (Barron's, March 2, 2026)

In plain terms: Israel was going to attack; Iran would hit back at Americans; so America went in first. The decision to start the war, on that date, followed Israel's plan.

The same weekend: Iran would not have struck first "unless Israel attacked Iran first"​

Reuters reported that Pentagon briefers told congressional staff in a Sunday session that Iran "was not planning to strike US forces or bases in the Middle East unless Israel attacked Iran first," as the reporters put it on X; Reuters's headline was "Pentagon tells Congress no sign that Iran was going to attack US first, sources say" (X news summary, March 1–2, 2026). Senator Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said on CNN: "I saw no intelligence that Iran was on the verge of launching any kind of preemptive strike against the United States of America." Asked "None?", he said: "None" (CNN State of the Union on X, March 1, 2026).

Put Rubio's sentence beside the Pentagon's. The threat to American troops that justified striking first was a threat that existed because of the Israeli attack.

March 3: "Your statement is false"​

The next day a reporter read his words back to him. From CNN's transcript:

Reporter: "Yesterday, you told us that Israel was going to strike Iran and that's why we needed to get involved."

Rubio: "No, yeah. Your statement is false. ... I told you this had to happen, anyway. ... This was a question of timing, of why this had to happen as a joint operation, not the question of the intent. ... We are not going to put American troops in harm's way." (CNN transcript, March 3, 2026; Forbes Breaking News video)

His clarification concedes the point it denies: the timing, the date Americans went to war, was set by the Israeli operation. Iran's foreign minister said Rubio had "admitted what we all knew. The U.S. has entered a war of choice on behalf of Israel," as quoted on MSNBC's Morning Joe (Morning Joe, March 3, 2026). That is a hostile government's reading; the words it reads are Rubio's own.

On ground troops: "maximum optionality"​

  • March 2, to the New York Post: "Right now, we're not postured for ground forces, but obviously the president has those options. He's never going to rule out anything" (New York Post video).
  • March 27: "we can achieve all of our objectives without ground troops, but we are always going to be prepared to give the president maximum optionality and maximum opportunity to adjust to contingencies should they emerge" (Forbes Breaking News, March 27, 2026).
  • April 1–2, after the President's "stone ages" address, Rubio posted four objectives: destroy Iran's weapons factories, its navy, its air force, and "their chances of ever having a nuclear weapon," as one account summarized them (Shanaka Anslem Perera on X).

"We are not going to put American troops in harm's way," he said on March 3. By then, American troops had already been killed in Kuwait, and within a month about a hundred of them were on the ground inside Iran for the F-15E rescue.

Others who drew the same line​

  • Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, resigned on March 17: "it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby" (Joe Kent).
  • Defense Secretary Hegseth, May 5: the Israelis "may have some objectives at times that are slightly different than ours" (Hegseth on Camera).
  • A Senate speech in the Congressional Record: "We were dragged into the war by Bibi Netanyahu. Others, like Senator Graham and sometimes President Trump, say: No, America decided on our own to enter this war" (Congressional Record, Senate section S773).
  • Netanyahu himself, June 24, 2026, describing the June 2025 war: "When I came to President Trump before Operation Rising Lion, I told him we were going into Iran ... I didn't ask for permission; I simply informed him of our plan" (News18, June 25, 2026).

Status: Marco Rubio is alive. Mark Warner, Joe Kent, Pete Hegseth, and Benjamin Netanyahu are alive.

Sources​

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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