Secretary of State Marco Rubio took a shot at trying to explain the Iran war to the nation before President Donald Trump was scheduled to appear on television networks hours later.
In a video posted by the White House this week, Rubio offered the administration's latest excuse for attacking Iran. The secretary's X account also shared the video on Wednesday ahead of Trump's address.
"Let me explain," the secretary of state offered. "Iran wants to have nuclear weapons. Of that, there is zero doubt."
"But why the attack now?" he continued. "Iran was trying to build a conventional shield, in essence, have so many missiles, have so many drones that no one could attack them, and they were well on their way. We were on the verge of an Iran that had so many missiles and so many drones that no one could do anything about their nuclear weapons program in the future. That was an intolerable risk."
The Trump administration has also pointed to regime change, a planned strike by Israel, an imminent threat of attack, and destroying other parts of Iran's military as excuses for the war. Last year, Trump had repeatedly claimed that Iran's nuclear program had been "obliterated."
Rubio's latest explanation was met with criticism online.
"Yup, clear as mud. Now we are making Israel a superpower...that wasn't on my Middle East bingo card," Danny Layaou wrote.
"That's not foreign policy language. That's a defense contractor earnings call," Wall Street Balance Sheet noted.
"This government has to be the most confused one, everyday you keep coming up with different excuses as to why you're losing the war you started," Oko Oyinbo observed.
"It's the Christian Zionists who have an apocalyptic vision of the future. Your brilliant stunt has now enabled Iran to collect tolls from every ship passing through Hormuz," Lucy Liu commented.