Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed at a White House press briefing on Tuesday that the US is now engaged in a “defensive operation” against Iran as the Trump administration is attempting to reframe the war that the US and Israel launched against the Islamic Republic on February 28.
“Now, what’s really important for you to report and for everyone to understand is this is not an offensive operation. This is a defensive operation. And what that means is very simple. There’s no shooting unless we’re shot at first,” Rubio told reporters.
He also declared that Operation Epic Fury, the code name the US gave to the war, is over, and that the US is now on to “Project Freedom,” referring to the US military operation to “guide” ships out of the Strait of Hormuz, though President Trump announced later in the day that the operation has been “paused.”
A source close to President Trump made clear in comments to Axios that one purpose of Project Freedom was to make it appear that Iran is the aggressor, even though all of the events in the Strait of Hormuz have been a result of the war that was started by the US and Israel.
The source told Axios that Project Freedom was the “beginning of a process that could lead to a confrontation with the Iranians” and that the “humanitarian” mission meant that if “the Iranians do something, they will be the bad guys and we will have the legitimacy to act.”
Rubio’s comments are also part of the Trump administration’s maneuvering around the 1973 War Powers Resolution, which was an attempt to rein in the Executive Branch’s disregard of the Constitution’s requirement that Congress has the sole power to declare war. The law doesn’t supersede the Constitution but includes a 60-day deadline to end unauthorized military action, which has been interpreted to give the president 60 days to wage war without congressional authorization.
The War Powers deadline expired on Friday, and US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth made the novel claim that the clock stops if there is a ceasefire, though US forces are still clearly engaged in hostilities against Iran since the US is enforcing a blockade on Iranian ports. Rubio said at the press conference that the War Powers Resolution was “unconstitutional” but that the administration reported to Congress under the law to “keep a good relationship” with the legislative branch.
Rubio also said during the briefing that the goal of the US military operation was to get the Strait of Hormuz back to the “way it was” before the US and Israel launched the war, acknowledging that the US objective was to reverse the consequences of the conflict it started.
“But our preference is for these straits to be opened to the way they’re supposed to be open, back to the way it was. Anyone can use it, no mines in the water. Nobody paying tolls. That’s what we have to get back to and that’s the goal here,” he said.
