The Trump Admin's Most Consistent Reason for Attacking Iran: We Did It For Israel

The new line: Israeli threats to bomb Iran and trigger a response that could hit U.S. bases in the region led the administration to join the war.

In the lead-up to and in the immediate aftermath of launching a war on Iran, President Donald Trump’s administration provided a dizzying array of shifting rationales for starting a conflict with dire global implications. But after a few days of public pressure, briefings with members of Congress and countless phone calls between Trump and reporters, a more consistent answer emerged: It was because of Israel.

“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 pre-emptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Monday after briefing lawmakers at the Capitol.

Rubio’s argument is that Israel told the U.S. it was planning to bomb Iran. If they did so, Iran would respond by targeting U.S. troops. Rather than attempt to talk Israel out of launching an attack, Rubio suggested the United States had no chance but to join a war Israel was going to launch.

This rationale has now trickled down to the rest of the war’s supporters in the Republican Party.

“Israel faced an existential risk and they were prepared to strike Iran alone,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) told Fox News on Monday. “If that happened, Iran was very likely to target our troops. That may address the question of why now.”