Ever-changing rationale for war
Joseph Gedeon in Washington
Sat 7 Mar 2026 05.00 EST
... 28 February
Trump announced the war in an eight-minute video posted to Truth Social at 2.30am ET last Saturday, framing Operation Epic Fury as a defensive response to decades of Iranian aggression – and, in the same breath, a campaign for Iranian liberation ...
28 February
Also on 28 February, the ... administration formally invoked article 51 of the UN charter – the self-defense provision – arguing that Iran’s missile arsenal and nuclear ambitions posed a direct threat to American forces in the region ...
1 March
Pentagon briefers reportedly acknowledged to congressional staff on 1 March that Iran was not planning to strike US forces or bases unless Israel attacked Iran first ...
2 March
Hours after Hegseth’s briefing, secretary of state Marco Rubio offered reporters an entirely different explanation for the timing of the war ...
3 March
Trump flatly rejected Rubio’s framing ... For those keeping score, there were now three incompatible explanations: Iran was an imminent nuclear threat, Iran would have retaliated against a coming Israeli strike, and Iran itself was about to attack ...
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/07/trump-rationale-war-iran-story