The Secretary of State said he hopes the Iranian people will overthrow the regime as the US military says six service members have been killed.
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Published March 2, 2026
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has suggested that Israel’s plans for an attack on Iran determined the timing of the US attack on the Tehran government.
A top U.S. diplomat told reporters on Monday that the U.S. military carried out the preemptive strike because the U.S. knew Israel was about to attack Iran and that Tehran would retaliate against U.S. interests in the region.
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“We knew there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew it would provoke an attack on U.S. forces. We knew there would be more casualties if we didn’t get ahead and pursue the attack before it started,” Rubio said.
The US Secretary of State’s comments came minutes before the US military confirmed the death toll from the conflict had risen to six after recovering two bodies from a regional facility attacked by Iran.
Iran’s government retaliated by launching drones and missiles across the region, including U.S. military bases and assets in the Gulf, in response to a joint U.S.-Israeli attack that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, several government officials, and hundreds of civilians.
Rubio insisted on Monday that the United States was acting to thwart an immediate threat because, although the United States and Israel jointly carried out the attack first, Israel intends to attack Iran on its own anyway.
“There was definitely an imminent threat,” he said. “And the immediate threat was that we knew that if Iran was attacked, and they believed they were going to be attacked, they would come after us immediately.”
The allegations highlight Israel’s role in provoking the war, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long pursued.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the attack on Iran was being carried out with the support of his “friend”, US President Donald Trump.
“With this coalition, we can achieve what I have wanted to do for 40 years,” the Israeli prime minister said in a video message.
Rubio told reporters on Monday that the attack on Iran had to be carried out because Iran was defending its nuclear program and was accumulating missiles and drones that could be used to obtain an atomic bomb.
Israel and the United States went to war less than 48 hours after a series of meetings between American and Iranian officials over Tehran’s nuclear program.
Rubio said the purpose of the war was to destroy Iran’s missile and drone programs, but stressed that the United States welcomed the end of Tehran’s current regime.
“We do not intend to mourn, we hope that the Iranian people will overthrow this government and build a new future for this country. We hope that will be possible.”
