This is the US preventative self defense argument, stated by Rubio. 'We knew that there was going to be an Israeli actoin. We knew 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...'
Trump was asked if Israel forced his hand, and he replied 'No, I might've forced their hand.' It was Trump's opinion that Iran was going to attack first, he said.