An Iranian flag is thrown into the rubble of a police station destroyed by airstrikes on March 3, 2026 in Tehran, Iran. (Photo: Majid Saeedi/Getty Images)
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he “could have forced Israel to help” start a war with Iran that has already cost the lives of six U.S. soldiers.
Trump’s announcement came less than a day after Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that the United States had joined a campaign to protect American troops after Israel’s planned attack.
“We’ve been negotiating with these lunatics, and I think they’re going to attack first,” Trump told reporters. “… and I didn’t want that to happen. So if anything happened, I could force Israel to act, but Israel was ready and we were ready and we had a very, very powerful impact because virtually everything they had was knocked out.”
Trump made the comments ahead of a bilateral meeting at the White House with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, as lawmakers on Capitol Hill struggled to make sense of the sudden war.
Merz said Germany “is on the same side when it comes to getting rid of this terrible regime in Tehran” – although administration officials maintain the conflict is not about regime change but rather about destroying Iran’s stockpiles and conventional missile production and thwarting any nuclear ambitions.
Since Saturday’s assassination of its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran has fired numerous missiles and drones. Strikes caused damage across the Middle East, including Tuesday at the U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia, Associated Press reported.
During a previously scheduled Tuesday hearing to question Undersecretary for Defense Policy Elbridge Colby on the administration’s national defense strategy, Senate Democrats insisted on the justification for war with Iran.
Senator Angus King, an independent lawmaker from Maine who debates with Democrats, focused on Rubio’s proposal statement on Monday that the United States entered the war to prevent retaliatory attacks on American troops in the region following Israel’s planned attacks on the headquarters of Iran’s leadership. Previously, administration officials have said that U.S. intelligence was heavily involved in planning the Israeli offensive.
“I find it very disturbing that we are engaging this nation in war based on the decision of … a staunch ally, and I am a supporter of Israel,” King said. “I don’t think anyone should guide our decision to go to war but the interests of the United States.”
“The president made our decision,” Colby replied.
The GOP agrees
Meanwhile, Congress is scheduled to vote this week on the Armed Services Act, which has received confined Republican support, to stop Trump’s unilateral military actions in Iran without congressional approval.
Lawmakers are largely divided along party lines when it comes to support for military action, with Republicans backing Trump.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., he said reporters on Monday, the measure will likely fail in the House. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., is the sole Republican sponsor of the House version legislation.
Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., defended the administration’s start of the Iran war and sharply criticized “exaggerated” allegations that Trump broke the law by not first seeking congressional approval.
“He’s the first president in seven presidencies to actually do something about the thorn that has continually haunted us. And now you’re criticizing him, you’re saying it’s illegal. It’s not true,” Mullin said Tuesday during a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“How about we say, ‘Thank you, Mr. President, for finally getting rid of this nuisance, this murderer, this sponsor of terror,'” Mullin said.
Virginia’s Kaine Says GOP ‘Nervous About Voting for War’
Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, lead sponsor of the Senate-passed war powers bill Billcriticized Mullin for suggesting “that the anxiety on this side of the aisle is because we don’t like President Trump.”
“He expressed that concern incorrectly. I think I can speak for most of my colleagues who have concerns and say that our concern is, have we learned nothing from 25 years of war in the Middle East?” Kaine said.
Kaine said in a brief interview that Republicans supporting Trump’s war on Iran should put the Authorization for the Use of Military Force, or AUMF, on the floor to formally issue the congressional seal of approval.
“And the fact that there was a reluctance to put the AUMF on the table tells me that while Republicans don’t want to oppose the president, they’re also nervous about voting for war,” Kaine said. “If you’re nervous about voting for war, well, think about what that says to the soldiers who risk their lives. That anxiety should make you think about whether it’s a good idea or not.”
Kaine said the 2001 AUMF, which Congress drafted quite broadly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and is still in effect, does not cover Trump’s military actions in Iran.
“The president didn’t mention it,” he said. “And we all agree that Iran was not included in AUMF’01. It was intended to include non-state terrorist groups, not sovereign nations.”
Lawmakers were scheduled to receive closed-door briefings on the war from administration officials later Tuesday.
