US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he ordered US forces to join Israel's attack on Iran because he believed Iran was about to strike first, contradicting the rationale offered a day earlier by his secretary of state for how the war began.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters ⁠on Monday that the US launched the attack because of fears that Iran would retaliate in response to planned Israeli action against Tehran.

"We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action; 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," Rubio said.

Trump rejected suggestions that Israel pushed the US into the conflict, as his administration gave varying accounts and faced criticism from some supporters and Democrats who accused him of launching a "war of choice."

"I might have forced their (Israel’s) hand," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office as he met with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

"We were having negotiations with these lunatics, and it was my opinion that they were going to attack first. If we didn't do it, they were going to attack first. I felt strongly about that." Iran has said ⁠the US assault was unprovoked.

Trump however offered no firm plan for Iran, saying possible leaders eyed by the US had been killed and admitting that a replacement for slain supreme leader Ali Khamenei could be just “as bad”.

"I guess the worst case would be, we do this, and then somebody takes over who's as bad as the previous person, right?" Trump said.

He said that two waves of US-Israeli attacks had killed Iranian figures he had eyed as potential new leaders, adding that there had been a "substantial" new attack on a meeting to choose the new leadership.

"Most of the people we had in mind are dead," he said. "Now we have another group. They may be dead also, based on reports."

Trump has previously urged the people of Iran to rise up and overthrow their government, but toppling the Islamic republic was not among the four key goals for the operation that he gave on Monday, including stopping its nuclear programme.

On Tuesday the US leader told protesters to hold off. He has also used the recent deadly crackdown on protests in Iran as a justification for the war.

"If you're going to go out and protest, don't do it yet," Trump added.

Germany's Merz Chancellor Friedrich Merz voiced support on Tuesday for the US-Israeli war on Iran but said he hoped it would end soon, saying it was hurting the global economy.

"This is, of course, damaging our economies. This is true for the oil prices, and this is true for the gas prices as well. So that's the reason why we all hope that this war will come to an end as soon as possible," he said.

Trump insisted soaring oil prices would drop "lower than even before" after the war ends.

While praising Merz, Trump had harsh words for European allies Britain and Spain.

"This is not Winston Churchill that we're dealing with," Trump said of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer who initially refused to let US forces use UK bases, before relenting.

Trump also threatened to cut off trade with Spain, whose left-wing government refused to let US planes use its bases to attack Iran and objected to raising defence funding as part of Nato.

"Spain has been terrible," Trump said, adding: "We could use their base if we want. We could just fly in and use it." (Agencies)



Edited by Cecil Wong