WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump denies that Israel dragged the US into war with Iran, insisting that if anything, the opposite could be true and that he felt Iran was going to attack first.
Trump was asked by a reporter in the Oval Office, “Did Israel force your hand to launch these strikes against Iran? Did Netanyahu pull the United States into this war?”
“No, I might have forced their hands. You see, we were having negotiations with these lunatics, and it was my opinion that they [the Iranians] were going to attack first,” Trump claims in response, during a press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
Pentagon briefers on Sunday reportedly told Congress that the US did not have intelligence that Iran was planning a preemptive strike against the US.
“They were going to attack. If we didn’t do it, they were going to attack first. I felt strongly about that,” Trump says of Iran.
“So if anything, I might have forced Israel’s hand,” he adds. “But Israel was ready, and we were ready.”
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From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, March 3, 2026
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