In a statement directed at Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said, “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.'”
Araghchi’s comments came after Rubio on Monday gave a new explanation from the Trump administration about why the U.S. decided to launch military action against Iran now — saying the threat from Iran was “imminent” because it knew it would retaliate against the U.S. if attacked, including by Israel.
He spoke to reporters before briefing the Gang of 8 congressional leaders on Capitol Hill.
“It was abundantly clear that if Iran came under attack by anyone — the United States, Israel or anyone — they were going to respond, and respond against the United States. The orders had been delegated down to the field commanders,” Rubio said. “It was automatic.”
“If we stood and waited for that attack to come first, before we hit them, we would suffer much higher casualties,” Rubio went on. “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.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to reporters as he arrives for an intelligence briefing with top lawmakers on Iran, at the Capitol in Washington, Monday, March 2, 2026.
