Secretary of State Marco Rubio moved to clarify the rationale behind Operation Epic Fury after several members of Congress, along with conservative commentators such as Matt Walsh, suggested the mission had been launched at Israel’s behest.
🚨Sec. Rubio GOES OFF on reporters:
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) March 3, 2026
"Let me explain to you guys this in SIMPLE ENGLISH. Iran is run by lunatics, religious fanatic lunatics.
They have an ambition to have nuclear weapons. They intend to develop those nuclear weapons behind a program of missiles and drones and… pic.twitter.com/jp7TUJwzR3
"Let me explain to you guys this in simple English, OK?" Rubio told a crowd of reporters, Tuesday night. "Iran is run by lunatics, religious fanatic lunatics. They have an ambition to have nuclear weapons. They intend to develop those nuclear weapons behind a program of missiles and drones and terrorism that the world will not be able to touch them for fear of those things."
"This is the weakest they've ever been," he added. "Now is the time to go after them. The president made the decision to go after them, take away their missiles, take away their navy, take away their drones, take away their ability to make those things so that they can never have a nuclear weapon. That's why the president made this decision. It was the right decision. And the world will be a safer place when these radical clerics no longer have access to these weapons."
The clarification followed attempts by several political figures to misconstrue remarks Rubio made on Monday, when he stated that the United States carried out its strike late Friday as a preemptive measure. According to Rubio, U.S. officials were aware of imminent Israeli action in the region, and rather than risk absorbing Iranian retaliation, President Trump chose to act first in an effort to neutralize Iran once and for all.
So he's flat out telling us that we're in a war with Iran because Israel forced our hand. This is basically the worst possible thing he could have said. https://t.co/68cs255Zoj
— Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) March 2, 2026
The administration admits 🇮🇱 dragged us into the 🇮🇷 war that’s already cost too many American lives and billions of dollars. Before it’s over, the price of gas, groceries, and virtually everything else is going to go up. The only winners in 🇺🇸 are defense company shareholders. https://t.co/MR75j2ytCB
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) March 2, 2026
“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 told reporters.
When they asked him to clarify if that meant Israel had dragged us into the conflict, he denied the allegation.
"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,” Rubio said.
“Obviously, we were aware of Israeli intentions and understood what that would mean for us, and we had to be prepared to act as a result of it. But this had to happen no matter what."