Trump responds to outrage Israel pushed him into Iran war as US announces evacuations for stranded Americans in the Middle East

Donald Trump He vehemently denied that Israel pushed the US into war with Iran and said he may have actually ‘pushed’ Israel after outrage from his MAGA base.

In his first meeting with the press after the weekend operation, Trump was asked whether Israel was dragging the USA into conflict.

‘No, I might have forced them,’ he said otherwise.

Trump’s comments appear to contradict what Secretary of State Marco Rubio said yesterday after briefing lawmakers on Operation Epic Rage.

‘We knew Israel would take action. “We knew this would precipitate an attack against American forces,” Rubio said. ‘And we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched these attacks, we would suffer more casualties.’

Trump continues to tout that the operation was extremely successful, as Americans abroad faced warnings from US officials amid attacks on overseas consulates.

And the State Department announced Tuesday that officials had secured military and charter flights to evacuate Americans stranded in the Middle East.

The Iran war spiraled on Tuesday as the United States and Israel launched a new bombing raid on the capital Tehran amid growing unrest over Donald Trump’s changing goals.

Iran retaliated by using a drone against the US consulate in Dubai. Eyewitness videos emerged Tuesday showing the structure in flames.

U.S. Navy statement photo shows guided missile destroyer USS Thomas Hudner (DDG 116) firing a Tomahawk land attack missile in support of Operation Epic Fury on March 1, 2026

Smoke rises after Israeli attacks on Tehran, Iran on Tuesday, March 3, 2026

Following attacks on consulates in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, several US embassies in the region were put on high alert. The State Department ordered the evacuation of non-emergency personnel and families in Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Qatar, Jordan and the UAE.

The United States also urged citizens to leave more than a dozen Middle Eastern countries, but with much of their airspace closed, many remained stranded. A government source said more than a million Americans are believed to be in the area.

A State Department spokesman said officials are in contact with 3,000 Americans overseas who want to leave the Middle East as the conflict progresses.

Meanwhile, the most vocal members of Trump’s MAGA base are outraged by the perception that Israel was wrong to lead the United States into war with Iran.

Conservative pundit Matt Walsh wrote: ‘So [Rubio is] They openly say that we are at war with Iran because Israel forces us. That was basically the worst thing he could have said.’

But Trump responded on Tuesday, saying he believed Iran would attack first because negotiations had failed, and that ‘I don’t want that to happen.’

‘You see, we were having discussions with these crazy people, and my sense was that they were going to strike first,’ the President explained. ‘They were going to attack first, I felt strongly about that. So if something had happened I could have forced Israel’s hand.’

Trump addressed the nation on two separate occasions over the weekend, outlining his mission to destroy Iran’s leadership and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. He encouraged regime change but did not offer new leadership.

The president initially stated that the war would last four to five weeks, but later said the United States had the capability to engage ‘much longer’ if needed.

He adopted a more maximalist attitude than before, rejecting Iran’s demands for peace talks, saying ‘the big wave has not happened yet’. “It’s too late,” he posted on Truth Social.

Vice President J.D. Vance said in an interview with Fox News on Monday night that the goal was to ensure that “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.” He claimed there was “no way Donald Trump would allow this country to engage in a multi-year conflict with no clear end in sight and no clear goal.”

Further blurring the picture, a White House official told the Daily Mail on Tuesday that there are three goals: destroying the threat posed by Iran’s ballistic missiles, its missile industry and its Navy. The official mentioned neither Iran’s nuclear facilities nor regime change.

The United States and Israel launched a new bomb attack on Tehran on Tuesday.

Israel warned civilians in Persian to evacuate the area around Hakimiya Industrial Zone and Payam Airport in Karaj, where they had hit military targets. The announcement followed an overnight barrage that the Israelis said destroyed key government and security buildings in Tehran.

U.S. Central Command handout photo shows an F-35C Lightning II of Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 314 staging for flight operations aboard the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury, March 2, 2026.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on Capitol Hill that the United States knew Israel was preparing to attack and was concerned that Iran would cause more American casualties than if the United States attacked first.

The US Embassy in Saudi Arabia sent out a security alert shortly after 8 a.m. EST warning of ‘impending’ missile and drone attacks on the city of Dhahran, a major center of the oil industry and the headquarters of Aramco.

‘Do not come to the US Consulate. Take immediate shelter on the lowest level of your home and away from windows. A warning was made: “Don’t go out.”

The warning came after the Riyadh embassy was closed following an overnight attack by two drones that led to “limited fire” and urged Americans to stay away from the compound, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defense said.

This follows the attack on the US Embassy in Kuwait, which announced its closure until further notice.

The backlash from top conservative pundits has been exacerbated in recent days by vague messaging from administration leaders about what prompted the U.S. intervention.

Pro-Trump media personality Megyn Kelly said on her show: ‘There is nothing that is unpatriotic or unsupportive of someone’s conservatism or general adherence to MAGA-type principles that I would like to be better convinced is worth the sacrifice of American blood and treasure.’

Tucker Carlson said: ‘This is Israel’s war. This is not the United States’ war.’

‘This war is not being waged in the name of America’s national security objectives, to make the United States safer or wealthier… This war is being waged simply because Israel wants it to be waged,’ he added.

Carlson stopped by Israel last month for a sit-down meeting with U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. The former Fox host told the Daily Mail exclusively that she was detained at the airport by Israeli authorities in Tel Aviv while trying to leave the country.

Security forces use tear gas to disperse a crowd in front of the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, on March 2, 2026

Following attacks on consulates in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, several US embassies in the Middle East were on high alert. The State Department ordered the evacuation of families and non-emergency personnel in Kuwait, Bahrain, Iraq, Qatar, USE and Jordan (pictured)

In his remarks to the media on Tuesday, Trump also launched a fresh attack on Sir Keir Starmer.

‘The person we are dealing with is not Winston Churchill.’

His new blow comes as the Prime Minister continues to fume over his initial refusal to allow American bombers to use British bases to strike Iran.

Britain wasn’t the only European country to act cold on Tuesday.

Trump warned that he would retaliate if allied countries did not join the plan.

The president told reporters on Tuesday that his government would cut off all trade with Spain after it refused to allow American forces to use bases in their country to strike Iran.

‘Spain has absolutely nothing we need,’ the president said. ‘We will cut off all trade with Spain. ‘We want nothing to do with Spain.’

The previous day, Trump boasted at the Medal of Honor event at the White House that the military operation in Iran was already ahead of schedule.

This comes after he told the Daily Mail in an exclusive call on Sunday that he expected active conflict with Iran to continue for four weeks or less. He clarified that timeline on Monday, saying it could be four to five weeks.

On Tuesday, he praised the success of the US military in working with Israel to ‘eliminate’ Iran’s military power.

‘They have no navy. He was knocked out. There is no air force. He was knocked out. There are no air sensors, they are disabled. Their radars were disabled. And almost everything is disabled.’

This image provided by U.S. Central Command shows an F/A-18E Super Hornet launching from USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in support of Operation Epic Fury on Monday.

Operation Epic Fury began at midnight on Saturday morning after Trump gave the green light. The military monitored the operation from the makeshift situation room at Mar-a-Lago.

Dozens of Iranian leaders were killed, and Trump said much of Iran’s military infrastructure and missile systems were disabled in the bombings. Six US soldiers have been killed so far, and Trump has warned that more could be killed in the conflict, which he said could last four or five weeks.

But Trump believes the conflict has been successful so far.

“We’ve had a very, very strong impact because now almost everything has been disabled,” he told reporters during a bilateral meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office on Tuesday.

He added: ‘Missile numbers are decreasing.’

“I’ve never received so many compliments for something I’ve done, people thought it was something that needed to be done,” he boasted. ‘So if oil prices are a little bit high for a while, but as soon as that’s over, those prices will be even lower than they were before.