Trump denies Israel dragged US into Iran war, claims 'I might have forced their hands’

U.S. President Donald Trump denied that Israel had forced the U.S. into launching military strikes on Iran on Tuesday, claiming that, if anything, it was he who may have forced Israel, based on his belief that Iran was planning a preemptive attack. 

When asked by a reporter if Israel had forced his hand into attacking Iran, Trump strongly denied the claim.

“No, I might have forced their hands. You see, we were having negotiations with these lunatics, and it was my opinion that they were going to attack first,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office during a meeting with Germany’s Chancellor Friedrich Merz on Tuesday. 

“They were going to attack. If we didn’t do it, they were going to attack first,” Trump stated. “I felt strongly about that.” 

“So if anything, I might have forced Israel’s hand,” he added. “But Israel was ready, and we were ready.” 

President Trump’s comments followed a political uproar in the U.S. after Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared to announce that the U.S. launched military operations in Iran after learning that Israel was planning to strike independently. 

On Monday, ahead of a briefing of the “Gang of Eight” group of congressional leaders from both parties, Rubio told a group of reporters, “First, it was abundantly clear that if Iran came under attack by anyone, the United States or Israel or anyone, they were going to respond and respond against the United States.” 

Rubio stated that the Iranian regime had already given instructions to target U.S. positions in the region and that U.S. leaders agreed, “If we stood and waited for that attack to come first, before we hit them, we would suffer much higher casualties.” 

However, additional comments by Rubio in that briefing were omitted from some reports. Answering a follow-up question, Rubio affirmed that the operation in Iran “needed to happen.” 

“That’s a question of why now?” Rubio stated. “This operation needed to happen because Iran, in about a year, or a year and a half, would cross the line of immunity, meaning they would have so many short-range missiles, so many drones, that no one could do anything about it, because they could hold the whole world hostage.” 

Listen to the purpose of the mission. It is NOT about Israel. pic.twitter.com/Wnd3GxoD2I

— John Murphy (@jmurphy9894) March 3, 2026

A Channel 12 News report claimed that President Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke around15 times in the two months preceding the launch of strikes on Iran. According to the report, the U.S. leader issued a green light to begin the operation after determining that Iran would not make any compromises in the nuclear negotiations. 

Meanwhile, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) head Admiral Brad Cooper, in a briefing early Wednesday morning, said the campaign against Iran was progressing ahead of the original plan.

“We are seeing Iran's ability to hit us and our partners, is declining, while our combat power, on the other hand, is building. And my overall operational assessment is that we are ahead of our game plan,” Cooper added. 

Update from CENTCOM Commander on Operation Epic Fury: pic.twitter.com/epEohq64Vf

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) March 3, 2026

Admiral Cooper referred to the joint strikes by the U.S. and the Israeli Air Force, saying, “Operationally, the two most powerful air forces in the world, the US and Israel, are dominating the skies of the world's largest state sponsor of terror.” 

He noted that the buildup of U.S. forces in the region is “the largest buildup by the U.S. in the Middle East in a generation.” 

Referring to the war against Iraq in 2003, Cooper said, “Many of you may remember the ‘Shock and Awe’ strikes of 2003. The first 24 hours of this operation were nearly double the scale.” 

“We're less than 100 hours into this operation and we've already struck nearly 2,000 targets with more than 2,000 munitions,” he noted. “We have severely degraded Iran's air defenses and destroyed hundreds of Iran's ballistic missile launchers and drones, and in simple terms were focused on shooting all the things that can shoot at us.” 

Cooper also reported that the U.S. has devastated the Iranian naval forces in the Persian Gulf. 

“We are also sinking the Iranian Navy, the entire Navy,” Cooper said. “Thus far, we've destroyed 17 Iranian ships, including the most operational Iranian submarine that now has a hole in its side. For decades, the Iranian regime has harassed international shipping. Today, there's not a single Iranian ship underway in the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, or Gulf of Oman, and we will not stop.” 

The U.S. and Israel are “hunting Iran's last remaining mobile ballistic missile launchers to eliminate what I would characterize as their lingering launch capability,” he said, adding that the Islamic Republic “has launched over 500 ballistic missiles and over 2,000 drones,” while “ indiscriminately targeting civilians.” 

Echoing comments by President Trump that the war in Iran could take weeks, Admiral Cooper concluded by saying, “We’ve just begun.”