The rationale keeps changing – from Iran planning a preemptive strike to lobbying by Israel
US-Israel war on Iran – live updates
It took months for the Bush administration’s falsehoods about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq to come to light, after an invasion, regime change, an investigation, and then, finally, the truth. For the Trump administration’s warnings of an imminent threat from Iran, it took an afternoon.
On Capitol Hill on Monday, the US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, swiftly undercut the Trump administration’s claims that Iran was planning a preemptive strike by adding a key piece of information: Israel was planning to strike first.
“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 on Tuesday.
