Tehran, March 3 (IANS) Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Tuesday responded sharply to remarks made by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, asserting that there was never any "Iranian threat" and blaming what he termed "Israel Firsters" for the bloodshed of both Americans and Iranians.
Rubio had said on Monday (local time) that Washington launched strikes on Iran after learning that its ally Israel was preparing to act and amid concerns that Tehran would retaliate against American forces in the region.
"We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn't preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties," Rubio told reporters.
Reacting in a post on X, Araghchi wrote, "Mr. Rubio admitted what we all knew: US has entered a war of choice on behalf of Israel. There was never any so-called Iranian 'threat'."
He went on to hold Israel responsible for the loss of lives on both sides.
"Shedding of both American and Iranian blood is thus on Israel Firsters. American people deserve better and should take back their country," the Iranian Foreign Minister added.
Earlier, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that it was Israel that carried out the strike in Tehran on Saturday that killed Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, along with other senior officials, following intelligence indicating that they were in a meeting at the time.
Rubio, however, maintained that President Donald Trump's administration believed action against Iran was necessary irrespective of the sequence of events that led to the timing of the operation.
"No matter what, ultimately this operation needed to happen," Rubio said.
At the same time, Rubio clarified that while the United States would prefer to see the end of the Khamenei establishment, that objective was not the stated aim of the current military operation.
