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Rubio Admits That America Is Fighting Israel’s War

Israel’s plan to strike Iran would put American lives at risk, Rubio said. Rather than confronting Israel, the U.S. joined their war.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio admitted that the U.S. was forced into the war with Iran by Israel while speaking with reporters on Monday. He explained that the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had effectively boxed in the Trump administration, taking the decision out of American hands.

“We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action,” Rubio explained. “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.” 

Rubio’s disclosure highlights the Trump administration’s unwillingness to rein in the actions of Israel, even when that country’s policies resulted in U.S. attacks that only a tiny minority of the American public supports.

On Sunday, Netanyahu said the attacks on Iran were being conducted with “the assistance of the United States, my friend, U.S. President Donald Trump, and the U.S. military.” He described how the second U.S.–Israeli war with Iran in less than a year was something he had been fomenting for decades. “This coalition of forces allows us to do what I have yearned to do for 40 years. … This is what I promised — and this is what we shall do.”

Trump’s Orwellian Board of Peace Consists Entirely of Human Rights Abusers

Brian Finucane, a former State Department lawyer and expert in counterterrorism and the laws of war, suggested the secretary of state was using Israel as a convenient cover for Trump’s own desire for war — illustrated by Trump’s prior willingness to attack Venezuela and capture its president, Nicolás Maduro. Israel relies on U.S. military aid, which Trump could have used as leverage to pressure Netanyahu, Finucane said.

“The U.S. likely could have prevented Israel from attacking Iran if it really wanted to,” Finucane, currently a senior adviser with the International Crisis Group, told The Intercept.

“The U.S. retains leverage over Israel.”

“The U.S. retains leverage over Israel.”

Since the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza in October 2023, the U.S. government has spent $21.7 billion on military aid to Israel, according to Brown University’s Costs of War Project. Israel has also been the largest recipient of U.S. foreign aid since its founding, receiving more than $300 billion in total assistance. 

U.S.–Israeli strikes have killed at least 555 people in Iran and wounded hundreds more, according to the Iranian Red Crescent Society. This includes more than 165 people killed in an attack on an elementary school. On Monday, Central Command announced six U.S. military personnel had been killed in action, including two troops who were previously unaccounted for.

Democratic Leaders Avoid Criticizing Trump’s Iran War. Now Voters Will Have a Say.

Democratic leadership, including Reps. Gregory Meeks, the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and Adam Smith, the ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, sent a letter to Rubio and top Trump administration officials on Monday, ahead of Tuesday briefings. They called for the administration’s legal justification for initiating hostilities, U.S. objectives, and “what conditions would constitute mission success, and under what circumstances would operations cease.”

The State Department did not respond to request for comment by The Intercept on Rubio’s claims that Israel was effectively dictating U.S. war policy and whether it would continue to exert undue influence going forward.

“The U.S. retains leverage over Israel and, if it really wanted to, may be able to compel Israel to cease its military operations,” said Finucane. “But whether Iran is ready to cease hostilities is a separate matter.”

IT’S EVEN WORSE THAN WE THOUGHT.

What we’re seeing right now from Donald Trump is a full-on authoritarian takeover of the U.S. government. 

This is not hyperbole.

Court orders are being ignored. MAGA loyalists have been put in charge of the military and federal law enforcement agencies. The Department of Government Efficiency has stripped Congress of its power of the purse. News outlets that challenge Trump have been banished or put under investigation.

Yet far too many are still covering Trump’s assault on democracy like politics as usual, with flattering headlines describing Trump as “unconventional,” “testing the boundaries,” and “aggressively flexing power.” 

The Intercept has long covered authoritarian governments, billionaire oligarchs, and backsliding democracies around the world. We understand the challenge we face in Trump and the vital importance of press freedom in defending democracy.

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IT’S BEEN A DEVASTATING year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.

We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.

In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.

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I’M BEN MUESSIG, The Intercept’s editor-in-chief. It’s been a devastating year for journalism — the worst in modern U.S. history.

We have a president with utter contempt for truth aggressively using the government’s full powers to dismantle the free press. Corporate news outlets have cowered, becoming accessories in Trump’s project to create a post-truth America. Right-wing billionaires have pounced, buying up media organizations and rebuilding the information environment to their liking.

In this most perilous moment for democracy, The Intercept is fighting back. But to do so effectively, we need to grow.

That’s where you come in. Will you help us expand our reporting capacity in time to hit the ground running in 2026?

We’re independent of corporate interests. Will you help us?

The Regime Change President Who Won’t (or Can’t) Actually Change Any Regimes

Trump’s Iran Attack Was Illegal, Former U.S. Military Officials Allege

Fool Me Twice: The Case for War With Iran Is Even Thinner Than It Was for Iraq

Israel and Israel Alone Kicked Off This Escalation — In a Bid to Drag U.S. Into War With Iran

CNN Could Be Next Up for a Right-Wing Reboot Thanks to the Ellisons

With Paramount’s takeover of CNN owner Warner Bros. Discovery, the network might become the next CBS News.

Democratic Leaders Avoid Criticizing Trump’s Iran War. Now Voters Will Have a Say.

Top Democrats close to AIPAC stick to criticizing Trump’s process failures — but primary candidates are calling for a referendum on the war itself.

The Regime Change President Who Won’t (or Can’t) Actually Change Any Regimes

The Iran war shows that Trump is loving his military interventions — but they are never what he claims them to be.

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