U.S. Secretary of State Rubio claimed on the 2nd that the reason why the United States launched a military strike against Iran was that Israel would attack Iran and the United States would also be the target of Iranian retaliation, so it decided to "preemptively strike."
According to Xinhua News Agency, Rubio told reporters: "We know that Israel will take action, and that will accelerate (Iran's) attack on the US military. If we do not 'pre-empt' them, we will suffer higher casualties."
Rubio's remarks seemed to use Israel as a "shield", and the media and public opinion questioned this. Xinhua News Agency quoted the Times of Israel as saying that public opinion widely believes that Israel will attack Iran only with the "approval" of the United States. An Israeli Defense Ministry official who did not want to be named also revealed that Israel and the United States have been coordinating and planning this military operation for several months, and the date of the operation was finalized a few weeks ago.
The United States and Israel jointly launched a "pre-emptive" military strike against Iran on February 28. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the attack. Iran launched a counterattack and condemned the United States for launching unprovoked attacks on Iran during the negotiation process on the nuclear issue between Iran and the United States.
CNN said that US President Trump and others used "Iran poses an 'imminent' threat to the United States" as a reason for launching the attack. This is exaggerating the facts and is inconsistent with the assessment of the US intelligence agency. ABC also reported that at a closed hearing in Congress on March 1, Trump administration officials said that based on intelligence, Iran was not preparing to launch a "preemptive" strike against U.S. interests.
Polls by CNN and the Washington Post both show that more than half of the American people oppose the use of force against Iran.
According to Xinhua News Agency, according to the latest opinion poll results released by CNN on the 2nd, nearly 60% of the American people disapprove of the United States taking military action against Iran.
The poll, conducted shortly after the United States and Israel launched a military strike against Iran on February 28, showed that 59% of respondents disapproved of taking military action against Iran, 39% believed that the United States did not first try to solve the problem through diplomatic means, and only 27% believed that the United States had tried its best to solve the problem through diplomatic means before using force against Iran.
Most people interviewed expressed doubts about U.S. President Trump's plan to deal with the situation in Iran. 60% of respondents believe Trump does not have a clear response plan, and 62% believe he should obtain congressional approval for any further military action.
According to a poll conducted by Reuters and Ipsos on March 1, 43% of the American people opposed the US-Israeli attack on Iran, 29% were unsure, and only 27% of the respondents were in favor.
