President Donald Trump said Tuesday that Israel did not pressure the United States to launch strikes against Iran.
Trump was meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and speaking about the conflict with Iran at the White House when he took questions from reporters inside the Oval Office. He claimed that Iran's navy, air force and radar technology had been "knocked out."
"I might have forced their hand," Trump said. "You see, we were having negotiations with these lunatics and it was opinion that they were going to attack first. They were going to attack if we didn't do it. They were going to attack first, I felt strongly about that, and we have great negotiators, great people, people that do this very successfully and have done it all their lives very successfully. And based on the way the negotiation was going, I think they were going to attack first and I didn't want that to happen."
Trump's comments somewhat differed from Secretary of State Marco Rubio's remarks on Monday about how Israel claimed Iran was planning to attack. Trump appeared to say he had pushed for the strikes instead.
"So if anything I might have forced Israel's hand 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," Trump said.
Trump commented that Iran has targeted Arab countries that were neutral, targeting civilians and hotels, but now those countries have planned to fight back.
"They hit countries that have nothing to do with what's going on... which shows you the level of evil that we're dealing with," Trump said.
Q: Did Israel force your land to launch these strikes against Iran?
TRUMP: No. I might've forced their hand. It was my opinion that these lunatics were gonna attack first. pic.twitter.com/KcDmIbI6Vr
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 3, 2026