US and Israel offer shifting justifications for Iran war: what we know on day four

US secretary of state Marco Rubio says Saturday’s strikes on Iran were a pre-emptive action; Benjamin Netanyahu says it will not be ‘an endless war’The United States attacked Iran after learning that ally Israel was going to strike, which would have meant retaliation against US forces, secretary of state . “We knew that if we didn’t pre-emptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties,” Rubio told reporters. The justification for the attack differs from justifications given by Donald Trump and defence secretary Pete Hegseth.Rubio also said the “hardest hits” are yet to come from the US military. “The next phase will be even more punishing on Iran than it is right now,” he told reporters.Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the war against Iran may take “some time” but it will not take years. He told Fox News: “I said it could be quick and decisive. It may take some time, but it’s not going to take years. It’s not an endless war.”Trump signalled that US strikes on Iran could go much longer than originally predicted. He initially projected the war to last four to five weeks, but , and has since sought to justify a broad, open-ended conflict. The president laid out what he said were four key objectives for hitting Iran: “First, we’re destroying Iran’s missile capabilities … Second, we’re annihilating their navy... Third, we’re ensuring that the world’s number-one sponsor of terror can never obtain a nuclear weapon. Finally we are ensuring the Iranian regime can’t continue to arm, fund and direct terrorist armies outside of their borders.”The US embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was hit by a drone strike, causing a fire to break out.The state department has , including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, amid the worsening conflict. Mora Namdar, the state department’s assistant secretary for consular affairs, said US citizens should leave using available commercial transportation “due to safety risks”. The US has not organised its own evacuation flights.There was confusion over the status of navigation in the strait of Hormuz after a general in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards threatened to “burn any ship” seeking to navigate the waterway, a vital route for oil and gas shipments. However, US Central Command said the strait was not closed, according to Fox News.The Israeli military said it began a new wave of strikes on Tehran early on Tuesday. This came shortly after the military issued an evacuation warning for Tehran residents, especially those located near the headquarters of Iran’s state broadcaster IRIB.Israel’s military said in the early hours of Tuesday that it was working to intercept a new wave of missiles launched from Iran, warning residents in multiple locations to seek shelter.The Iranian Red Crescent Society said that at least 555 people had been killed across Iran. However, in its latest update, the Norway-based human rights group Hengaw said the death toll on day three had , including 200 civilians and 1,300 members of the Iranian forces.White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has said that “49 of the most senior Iranian regime leaders” have been killed in the US-Israeli strikes on Iran, declaring that “killing terrorists is good for America”. That number includes supreme leader Ali Khamenei.The number of has risen to six, the US military said on Monday.The US military said that it has struck over 1,250 targets in Iran since operations started on Saturday.UK prime minister Keir Starmer said that his government does not “believe in regime change from the skies” as he set out to parliament why Britain will not join its closest military partner in offensive action against Iran – suggesting that to do so would be unlawful.