The United States has conducted preemptive military strikes against Iran, prompted by intelligence that Israel was on the verge of launching an attack. This action was taken to protect American forces in the region from an expected retaliatory strike, according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who shared the information on Monday.

Speaking to a select group of congressional leaders on Capitol Hill, Rubio shed light on the coordinated offensive effort between the US and Israel.

“There was indeed an imminent threat,” Rubio confirmed. “We anticipated that if Iran were attacked, they would retaliate against us immediately. We chose not to wait and suffer a potential blow before taking action.”

According to Rubio, the Department of Defense concluded that merely adopting a defensive stance after an Israeli attack would lead to increased American casualties. So far, five US soldiers have lost their lives in the conflict.

“We took a proactive yet defensive approach to mitigate the potential for greater harm,” Rubio explained.

This revelation has sparked outrage across both Democratic and Republican circles.

‘Secretary Rubio’s remarks indicate that Israel put U.S. forces in harm’s way by insisting on attacking Iran,’ Congressman Joaquin Castro reacted on X. ‘And the administration was complicit—joining their war instead of talking them down.’

Conservative pundit Matt Walsh wrote: ‘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.’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Monday that the ‘imminent threat’ that prompted the US to strike Iran was the threat US soldiers would face after Israel’s planned strike on the Middle Eastern country

This photo provided by the White House which has been partially blurred, shows President Donald Trump talking with CIA Director John Ratcliffe, left, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and White House chief of staff Susie Wiles at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., during Operation Epic Fury on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026

A general view of Tehran with smoke visible in the distance after explosions were reported in the city, on March 02, 2026 in Tehran, Iran

‘Had we not done so, there would have been hearings on Capitol Hill about how we knew that this was going to happen, and we didn’t act preemptively to prevent more casualties and more loss of life,’ Rubio explained. 

Iran had already prepositioned its missiles and had them on ready alert, the secretary of state claimed.

He did not specify where the missiles were aiming or which US targets would have been within range.

‘Within an hour of the initial attack on the leadership compound, the missile forces in the south and in the north, for that matter, had already been activated to launch. In fact, those had already been pre-positioned.’ 

The small cadre of lawmakers being briefed Monday is referred to as the ‘gang of eight,’ and it is comprised of the leaders of both parties in the House and Senate and their respective intelligence committee chairmen.

Speaker Mike Johnson, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer; House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rick Crawford and ranking member Jim Himes; and Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Tom Cotton and ranking member Mark Warner, were the eight members included in the briefing. 

The ‘gang of eight’ was also briefed last week before the strikes. 

Still, Democrats across both chambers have decried the Trump administration for not informing more lawmakers of the impending military action against Iran. 

If Israel or someone else struck Iran, US soldiers would be targeted, which was considered an ‘imminent threat’ by the Trump administration. US military bases across the Middle East were hit with Iranian strikes following the initial US-Israel offensive

The US has two aircraft carrier strike units – amounting to roughly 15,000 soldiers – in the Middle East. Above a Arleigh-Burke class destroyer is seen firing a Tomahwak land attack missile at Iran

‘There’s no law that requires us to do that,’ Rubio told reporters of the complaints. 

‘The law says we have to notify them 48 hours after beginning hostilities. We’ve done that. I think the notification went today, but we did notify members of Congress in advance.’

He went on to note how ‘we can’t notify 535 members of Congress,’ likely due to the operational security threat of so many people knowing of a covert military action. 

War powers resolutions – legislation aimed at reeling in the President’s authority to unilaterally order strikes – have already been drafted in both the House and Senate. 

However, the GOP-controlled Congress has not passed these resolutions, despite large Democratic support and the backing of some Republicans. 

Rubio said that though Congress has the right to take a war powers vote, its already happened ‘a bunch of times’ without success.

Even if it did pass, it would likely face legal trouble as no presidential administration – neither Republican or Democratic –  has ever said that a war powers resolution is constitutional, Rubio said. 

‘We’ve complied with the law 100 percent, and we’re going to continue to comply with it.’