US and Israel offer shifting justifications for Iran war: what we know on day four

US secretary of state Marco Rubio says Saturday’s strikes on Iran were a pre-emptive action; Benjamin Netanyahu says it will not be ‘an endless war’ US-Israel war on Iran – live updates The United States attacked Iran after learning that ally Israel was going to strike, which would have meant retaliation against US forces, secretary of state Marco Rubio said . “We knew that if we didn’t pre-emptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties,” Rubio told reporters. The justification for the attack differs from justifications given by Donald Trump and defence secretary Pete Hegseth.