US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday said the United States did not attack Iran "because of Israel," but to protect its own security interests, apparently walking back comments he made a day earlier.
Speaking before a briefing to Congress on the war with Iran on Tuesday, Rubio said that on Monday he responded "no" when reporters asked him "did we go in because of Israel."
"I told you, this had to happen anyway, the president made a decision, and the decision he made was that Iran was not going to be allowed to hide behind its ballistic missile program," Rubio said, without fully addressing his Monday comments.
"Once the president made a decision that negotiations were not going to work ... the decision was made to strike."
On Monday, Rubio said that Washington's attacks on Iran were a proactive measure for the United States' own protection ahead of an "imminent threat."
"There absolutely was an imminent threat, and the imminent threat was that we knew that if Iran was attacked, and we believed they would be attacked, that they would immediately come after us," Rubio said.
The US did not want to stand idly by and take a hit before striking back themselves, he 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 said, adding: "This had to happen, no matter what."
US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson had also focused on Israel's actions in his comments about Washington's motivations on Monday. "Israel was determined to act in their own defence here, with or without American support," he told reporters.
Their comments appeared to be contradicted by US President Donald Trump, who said that "If anything, I might have forced Israel's hand." Trump said that even during recent negotiations with Iran, he was already certain that Tehran would strike first.
"And I didn't want that to happen," he added.
The US and Israel launched a large-scale offensive against Iran on Saturday, sparking a regional escalation as Tehran fired missiles at US bases in several Gulf states.
Several Democrats expressed concern after being briefed about the conflict with Iran.
"I think secretary Rubio inadvertently told the truth here, that this was driven by [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu and here we are, in a major conflict," said Independent Senator Angus King.
King also spoke of "breathtaking implication of Secretary Rubio's statement, which to me is the only explanation I've seen as to why this action was taken when it was."
Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal said that, following the briefing, he was "more fearful than ever ... that we may be putting boots on the ground."
