Rubio says planned Israeli action against Iran prompted US strikes

Planned ‌Israeli action against Iran that would have seen retaliation against American forces prompted the United States ​to launch its weekend strikes against ​Tehran, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio ⁠said on Monday, according to Reuters.

"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," Reuters quoted Rubio as saying.

On Saturday, Israel's defense minister Israel Katz described its missile attack against Iran as pre-emptive.

Iran has said the U.S. assault was ​unprovoked, occurring ​as Tehran ⁠and Washington were in negotiations on a nuclear accord.

U.S. President ​Donald Trump has said the U.S. ​faced ⁠an imminent threat from Iran that justified war, although he gave no specifics and some ⁠U.S. ​lawmakers said he has ​shown no evidence to back that assessment, according to Reuters.

Trump's Republicans insisted on Monday that ​the attack on Iran was fully within his authority as commander in chief, while Democrats said the administration has not made ‌its case and planned a war powers vote this week.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff briefed congressional leaders about the strikes on Iran, two days after Israeli and U.S. forces began bombing the Islamic ​state.

"Because Israel was determined to act with or without the U.S., our commander ​in chief and the administration ... had a very difficult decision to make," House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters after the classified briefing.

"In my ​view, right now ... our military and the commander in chief, he is presiding over the completion of an operation that was limited in scope, limited in its objective, and absolutely necessary for our defense. I think that operation will be wound up quickly," Johnson said.

Democrats argued that the U.S. Constitution gives Congress, not ​the president, the sole right to declare war and that Trump should not have embarked on what he said could be a weeks-long ​campaign without lawmakers' approval.

They also faulted the administration for failing to present a consistent argument for attacking Iran now, and questioned whether U.S. interests were ‌dictating policy.