PHAROS
STAR
Dashboard →
HIGHPOLITICALVERIFIED

Trump claims US went to war to pre-empt Iranian attack — says most likely Iranian successors are now dead

·White House, Washington DC

President Trump reversed the US official framing during a White House meeting with German Chancellor Merz, claiming the US struck Iran to pre-empt an imminent Iranian attack rather than being pulled in by Israel. He also revealed that most prospective successors to Khamenei have been killed.

Speaking to reporters at the start of a White House meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, President Trump made extraordinary statements about the Iran war. Trump claimed Iran was about to attack the region and that he launched the strikes to pre-empt that action — contradicting Secretary of State Marco Rubio's prior assertion that Israel triggered the war. 'If anything, I might have forced Israel's hand,' Trump said. Trump contradicted widely reported accounts that Israel drew the US into the conflict. On the question of Iranian succession, Trump said: 'Most of the people we had in mind are dead. Now we have another group, they may be dead also, based on reports. So you have a third wave coming. Pretty soon we're not going to know anybody.' When asked about worst-case scenario, Trump acknowledged: 'I guess the worst case would be we do this and somebody takes over who's as bad as the previous person.' Trump also claimed Iran has 'no navy, no air force, no air detection' remaining. Chancellor Merz noted that high oil prices were damaging the world economy. Trump sent Congress a legally mandated letter stating strikes were carried out to advance US national interests and 'in collective self-defense of our regional allies, including Israel.' US intelligence officials have said Trump has exaggerated the immediacy of the Iranian threat.
trumppreemptionsuccessioniran-leadershipwhite-housemerz

Actor responses

IranOPPOSINGofficial_statement

Larijani: Trump's preemption claim is fabricated justification for unprovoked aggression. Iran was in active negotiations in Geneva days before the strikes began.

United StatesSUPPORTINGofficial_statement

Trump: Iran was going to attack first — I forced Israel's hand. Most likely successors are dead. This was our last, best chance. We will not allow a nuclear Iran.

Sources

T1New York Times93% reliability
T1The Guardian92% reliability
T1Reuters95% reliability

Related signals (2)

Marco Rubio, Secretary of State@@MarcoRubioHIGH

Let me be clear: the United States acted in self-defense and in defense of our allies. Iran was building the capacity to destroy Israel and attack US forces. We had to act. Those who say Israel dragged us in — they do not understand the threat we faced. This was necessary.

2026-03-03 16:10 UTC
88.0K likes32.0K RT9.4M views
PHAROS NOTERubio defends preemption narrative after Trump contradicted him. Key internal US messaging tension.
Donald J. Trump@@realDonaldTrumpBREAKING

I might have forced Israel's hand — Iran was going to attack. Most of the people we had in mind [for succession] are dead. There's a third wave coming. Pretty soon we're not going to know anybody in Iran. Worst case: someone takes over who's as bad as the previous person.

2026-03-03 16:02 UTC
445.0K likes189.0K RT61.0M views
PHAROS NOTETrump confirms preemption narrative, reveals 3 waves of Iranian succession targets eliminated. Extraordinary admission. Most retweeted statement of the conflict.