Rubio: Trump “Had already made a decision to act”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday backtracked on his claim the day prior that the U.S. struck Iran after learning that Israel was preparing to attack.

"The bottom line is this: the president determined we were not going to get hit first. It's that simple, guys. We are not going to put American troops in harm's way," he told reporters on Capitol Hill.

"The president had already made a decision to act. On the timing, the president acted on the timing that gave us the highest chance of success."

On Monday, Secretary Rubio said the U.S. acted "preemptively" after learning Israel was preparing to strike, citing concerns about retaliation against American forces.

"We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action," he told reporters. "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."

Earlier Tuesday, President Trump said it was his "opinion" that Iran would have attacked if the U.S. and Israel had not struck first and rejected the suggestion that Israel's plans to strike prompted him to launch U.S. attacks, saying instead that he may have influenced Israel's timing.

"If anything, I might have forced Israel's hand," he told reporters in the Oval Office. "But Israel was ready, and we were ready, and we've had a very, very powerful impact, because virtually everything they have has been knocked out now. Their missile count is going way down."