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Trump insists Israel did not force US hand on Iran attack
The president insisted that Israel did not pressure the US to launch the initial strikes against Iran over the weekend.
“I think they were going to attack first, and I didn’t want that to happen. So, if anything, I might have forced Israel’s hand,” Donald Trump said while speaking to reporters. “We were having negotiations with these lunatics, and it was my opinion that they [Iran] were going to attack first.”
The president noted that the strikes have had a “very powerful impact because virtually everything they have has been knocked out”, but expressed his surprise that the Iranian regime was launching strikes against many of its neighbours in the Middle East. “Now those countries are all fighting against them and fighting strongly against them,” Trump added.
His comments appear to contradict Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, who said on Monday that the US attacked Iran after understanding that Israel was planning to strike first.
Key events
Pete Hegseth co-signed Donald Trump’s claims earlier that the US did not receive pressure from Israel to strike Iran first.
“If anything, I might have forces Israel’s hand,” the president said in the Oval Office earlier. Trump’s defense secretary reposted a clip of the president and said his comments were “100% correct”.
Again, this appears to contradict what Marco Rubio told reporters on Monday. The secretary of state said the US “knew there was going to be an Israeli action” which would “precipitate an attack against American forces”.
Trump says US Navy to escort tankers through strait of Hormuz ‘if necessary’
Lucy Campbell
Donald Trump has said the US Navy will begin escorting tankers through the strait of Hormuz as soon as possible “if necessary”.
In a post on Truth Social, the US president also said he had ordered the United States Development Finance Corporation to provide insurance and guarantees for the financial security of all maritime trade, including oil tankers, traveling through the Gulf region.
Iran closed the strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most critical shipping routes, last night, and threatened to attack any ship that tries to pass through, causing oil prices to soar.
Sustained disruption of shipping traffic in the strait, through which roughly 15% of the world’s oil and 20% of its liquefied natural gas passes, poses significant risk to the global economy.
Thune noted today that he believes the US has the “resources necessary to conduct the operations that they are that are under way right now”, when asked about the possible need for Congress to confer funds to bolster Operation Epic Fury.
This comes as Donald Trump said earlier that the US ammunition stockpiles have “never been higher or better”, meaning that wars could be fought “forever”.
The Senate majority leader also said that Iran’s counterattacks, which have hit several neighboring Arab countries, have forced several allies to show their military capabilities.
Top GOP senator says that Trump will not need congressional approval for military action against Iran
On Capitol Hill today, Senate majority leader John Thune said that the president would not need to authorization from Congress if the onoging military action against Iran exceeds 60 days and risks violating the war powers resolution.
“I think the president was perfectly within his rights to take the steps that he took,” Thune said ahead of a briefing by top administration officials on the US-Israel war on Iran.
The top Republican emphasized that the Trump administration did brief the Gang of Eight – which includes House and Senate leadership from both parties, as well as top intelligence committee lawmakers from both chambers.
“They did inform us. They met with us last week,” Thune said. “I was notified the day that the actual operations got under way.”
In a short while top administration officials will brief the full House and Senate on the US-Israel strikes against Iran.
Secretary of state Marco Rubio, defense secretary Pete Hegseth, CIA director John Ratcliffe, and the chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Cain will address lawmakers in the upper chamber at 3:30pm ET, and the lower chamber at 5pm ET.
We’ll bring you the latest lines from members of Congress following the classified briefings.
In an update to the earlier post about lawmakers criticizing the state department for not organizing evacuation flights, Reuters reports that assistant secretary for global public affairs Dylan Johnson said on Tuesday that the department was “actively securing military aircraft and charter flights for American citizens who wish to leave the Middle East”, but did not say when such flights would be available.
The department was in contact with nearly 3,000 US citizens abroad, Johnson added, urging citizens to call a phone number for assistance.
The US military has hit more than 1,700 targets in Iran since it began its operations in the country on Saturday, according to an update from the US Central Command, reports my colleague Lucy Campbell.
The targets hit include missile sites, navy ships, submarines and control centres, it said.
Follow further updates in our Middle East blog here:
The Pentagon’s policy chief on Tuesday distanced the United States from the death of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, saying he was killed by an Israeli strike.
Testifying before the Senate armed services committee, Elbridge Colby said the strike that killed Khamenei and other senior Iranian leaders was not part of the American military campaign, reported AFP.
“Those are Israeli operations,” Colby said, pushing back when pressed by lawmakers about whether regime change was an objective of US action.
Colby’s restrained tone contrasted with that of Donald Trump, who has framed the conflict in sweeping and triumphant terms since the strikes began.
In a social media post, Trump said Khamenei was “unable to avoid our Intelligence and Highly Sophisticated Tracking Systems” and that, “working closely with Israel, there was not a thing he, or the other leaders that have been killed along with him, could do.”
Colby described the primary targets as Iran’s missile firepower – which he said had grown substantially – as well as its capacity to produce those weapons and elements of the Iranian navy. Those goals, he argued, were “scoped and reasonable objectives that can be attained”.
Pressed by Jack Reed, the panel’s top Democrat, on how the killing of Iran’s top leader fit with those objectives, Colby reiterated that he was “talking about the goals of the American military campaign”.
Lauren Gambino
The first votes of the 2026 midterm cycle will be cast on Tuesday, with a pair of high-stakes US Senate primaries in Texas that will test both parties’ appetite for political change in the Trump era.
Voters across the state will decide their nominees for a critical Senate seat, as well as for several key congressional contests reshaped by a mid-decade gerrymander sought by Donald Trump to preserve the GOP’s fragile House majority.
Early voting has soared, particularly on the Democratic side, while political ad spending has surpassed $122m, according to data from AdImpact, making it the most expensive Senate primary on record.
The vast majority of the money is being spent to help four-term incumbent John Cornyn fend off a challenge from Ken Paxton, the state’s scandal-plagued attorney general and a conservative culture warrior.
Cornyn, 74, has emphasized his seniority and record, which he has defended as closely aligned with the president. By contrast, Paxton, 64, has presented himself as Maga’s vanguard in Texas, willing to battle both Democrats and Republicans.
On the Democratic side, state representative James Talarico has crisscrossed the deep-red counties that voted for Trump, preaching a “politics of love” that roots progressive policy in the teachings of his Christian faith. The 36-year-old former middle school teacher and current seminary student argues that the central divide in American politics is “not left v right” but “top v bottom” and says Democrats can rebuild trust in rural and suburban communities without abandoning their core values.
He faces congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, a firebrand progressive whose unsparing attacks on Trump and Republicans have earned her a starring role in the resistance movement to his second term. Crockett, 44, entered the race in December, just before the filing deadline, embracing a different political playbook. Casting herself as a “proven fighter” who “drives the president crazy”, Crockett contends that high turnout among young voters and voters of color – not ideological moderation – is the key to winning statewide.
US lawmakers criticize state department for not organizing government evacuation flights from Middle East
US lawmakers have criticized the state department for not organizing government evacuation flights, as many Americans are stranded in the Middle East as the conflict with Iran widens.
“Warnings to citizens to evacuate 3 days into this war, when airspace is closed, is a clear sign of ZERO strategy and planning by the Trump admin,” Democratic senator Andy Kim said in a post on X. “Now Americans have limited options to evacuate at an extremely dangerous moment with no government assistance. This administration is failing its citizens.”
Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday that “it all happened very quickly” when asked why there was no evacuation plan for American citizens.
Democratic senator Chris Murphy said on social media: “So the state department is forcing everyone to immediately leave the region but is also refusing to help people leave the region. Incompetence everywhere.”
The state department did not immediately respond to questions on how exactly Americans should be departing in the absence of available commercial flights or whether Washington was planning evacuation flights, reported Reuters.
The US embassy in Jerusalem said on its website: “The US embassy is not in a position at this time to evacuate or directly assist Americans in departing Israel.
“Ben Gurion Airport remains closed, and there are no commercial or charter flights operating from there.”
‘We’re going to cut off all trade with Spain,’ says Trump after it refuses to let US use jointly operated bases for Iran strikes
Sam Jones
Donald Trump has threatened to cut off all trade with Spain after the Nato ally refused Washington permission for two jointly operated bases in southern Spain to be used in US strikes on Iran.
“Spain has been terrible,” Trump told reporters during a meeting with the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, adding that he had told treasury secretary Scott Bessent to “cut off all dealings” with Spain.
He added: “We’re going to cut off all trade with Spain. We don’t want anything to do with Spain.”
Trump’s threat came hours after Spain’s foreign minister had played down the chances of any retaliatory actions.
“The bases used jointly with the US are Spanish sovereign bases that operate within the framework of the treaty with the United States, and it is within that premise – of our sovereignty and the treaty framework – that they can be used,” José Manuel Albares told reporters after Tuesday’s weekly cabinet meeting.
“Therefore, there is nothing strange or surprising about it, and we do not expect any consequences whatsoever.”
He also said Washington had not requested the use of the bases in Rota and Morón.
“I haven’t had a single conversation with any US representatives nor have I had any requests regarding that,” he added.
Trump also criticized Spain once again for refusing to accept Nato’s proposal for member states to increase their defence spending to 5% of their GDP.
“Everybody was enthusiastic about it – Germany, everybody – and Spain didn’t do it,” he said. “And now Spain said we can’t use their bases – and that’s OK. We could use their bases; if we wanted, we could just fly in and use it. Nobody’s going to tell us not to use it. But we don’t have to. But they were unfriendly.”
Spanish government sources responded, saying: “Spain is a key Nato member that fulfils its commitments and makes a significant contribution to the defence of European territory. It is also a major exporting force within the EU and a reliable trading partner for 195 countries worldwide – including the United States, with whom we maintain a longstanding and mutually beneficial trade relationship.
“If the US administration wishes to review this relationship, it must do so respecting the autonomy of private companies, international law, and bilateral agreements between the European Union and the United States.
“Our country has the necessary resources to mitigate potential impacts, to support sectors that could be affected, and to diversify supply chains. In any case, the Spanish government’s commitment is – and always will be – to work for free trade and economic cooperation between countries, based on mutual respect and compliance with international law. Because what the public demands and deserves is greater prosperity, not more problems.”
Throughout his meeting with Merz, the president was appreciative of Germany’s willingness to let the US land in certain areas throughout their military operation against Iran.
“They’re just making it comfortable,” Trump said. “We’re not asking them to put boots on the ground.”
Trump says that most leaders in mind to take over in Iran ‘are dead’
The president said, while answering a question about who he envisoned would take over in Iran, that “most of the people we had in mind are dead”.
He also noted that those the administration had in mind from “another group” may be dead, based on reports.
When asked about rising oil prices in the wake of the strikes on Iran, Trump remained convinced that a hike in prices at the pump would be temporary.
“As soon as this ends, those prices are going to drop, I believe, lower than even before,” the president said.
Merz had little chance to speak during today’s availability with reporters, but he did express concern about the economic impact of the war on the global economy.
“This is true for the oil prices, and this is true for the gas prices as well,” he said. “That’s the reason why we all hope that this war will come to an end as soon as possible.”
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