President Donald Trump attempted to justify his aggressive war against Iran by claiming that his negotiators said that Tehran was preparing to attack.
The situation was very quickly approaching the point of no return, and the US found it intolerable,” the President said on Monday. In my opinion, based on what Steve [Witkoff] and Jared [Kushner] and Pete [Hegseth] and Marco [Rubio] were telling me, I thought [Iran] was going to attack us.”
BREAKING — Trump:
“Based on what Jared Kushner told me I Thought Iran Would Attack Us. pic.twitter.com/Tln0v9ixxj
— ✦✦✦ ✦✦✦ (@PamphletsY) March 9, 2026
Witkoff, the President’s envoy, and Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law, were leading the US in talks with Iran just before Washington and Tel Aviv launched a surprise attack. Nuclear experts who spoke with MS Now explained that Kushner and Witkoff lacked technical knowledge of nuclear matters and did not bring analysis to the talks.
“When it comes to nuclear nonproliferation discussions, the details matter,” said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association. “And working out the details requires time and technical expertise, and the administration was not patient enough to apply either to this effort.”
Iran never threatened to launch an offensive war against the US or Israel. Tehran declared that it would only attack Israel or US bases in the Middle East if attacked first.
Over the past several years, Tehran has shown significant military restraint when dealing with the US and Israel. For example, Iran launched mostly symbolic strikes against Israel or US bases in response to major provocations, such as the assassination of Iranian General Soleimani, Israel’s bombing of Iran’s embassy in Syria, or Operation Midnight Hammer in June.
