‘No Choice’ — US Officials Say Iran Forced Their Hand After Rebuilding Nuclear Program

Senior administration officials said Saturday that President Donald Trump had “no choice” but to strike Iran after the Middle East country allegedly intended to preemptively launch missiles at U.S. assets and was rebuilding its nuclear capabilities.

“The president, frankly, had no choice,” one administration official stated during a background call with reporters.

The officials detailed how talks with Iran fell apart in recent days, ultimately leading the president to decide to launch a military assault.

After Operation Midnight Hammer, a June 2025 strike that officials claimed “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear facilities, Iran was warned not to pursue nuclear enrichment or it would have “issues.”

However, intelligence showed that Iran was rebuilding what had been destroyed by Midnight Hammer, the officials explained. Iran was allegedly stockpiling material and looking to build centrifuges in direct violation of the United States’ warnings. (RELATED: ‘Not What We Thought MAGA Was Supposed To Be’: America First Skeptics Blast Iran Strikes) 

Throughout negotiations, which were mediated by Oman, U.S. officials came to believe Iran was deliberately stalling progress so Iran could continue to build up nuclear capabilities. The U.S. offered Iran “free nuclear fuel forever” and Iran responded that those terms “didn’t work for them.”

The Iranians were “looking to buy time,” the officials concluded.

“We will give you free nuclear fuel forever,” a Trump admin official said the US told Iran

“And they basically said that didn’t work for them. And we basically said, ‘well, that makes absolutely no sense.”

The Iranians were “looking to buy time”—not negotiating in good faith

— Marc Caputo (@MarcACaputo) February 28, 2026

The breakdown in negotiations occurred alongside the U.S. discovering that Iran planned to preemptively use conventional missiles against the United States and its assets, one senior administration official said, adding that the president would not allow U.S. forces to absorb such attacks.

Trump announced in a video message Saturday at 2:57 a.m. that the U.S. had begun striking Iran to eliminate “threats from the Iranian regime.” 

“It has always been the policy of the United States, in particular, my administration, that this terrorist regime can never have a nuclear weapon. I’ll say it again, they can never have a nuclear weapon,” the president declared. “We are going to destroy their missiles and raze their missile industry to the ground. It will be totally again, obliterated.” (RELATED: How Rubio Prepared Congress For US Campaign Against Iran) 

Just hours earlier, Omani Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi said in an interview with CBS News’ Margaret Brennan that a deal between the U.S. and Iran was “within our reach.”

Iran responded to the strikes by launching counterattacks on U.S. allies in the Middle East.