In an April 21, 2026 legal memorandum titled “Operation Epic Fury and International Law,” published by the State Department's Office of the Legal Adviser, legal adviser Reed D. Rubinstein wrote: “As the United States has explained in multiple letters to the U.N. Security Council, including most recently on March 10, the United States is engaged in this conflict at the request of and in the collective self-defense of its Israeli ally, as well as in the exercise of the United States' own inherent right of self-defense.” The New Republic reported on the memo on April 24, and Snopes rated as true the claim that a U.S. government document says the country entered the war “at the request of” Israel.
The wording cuts against Trump's public account. That same week he wrote on Truth Social that “Israel never talked me into the war with Iran” and that “the results of Oct. 7th, added to my lifelong opinion that IRAN CAN NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON, did.” The memo does not say Israel talked him into the war, and it also invokes the United States' own right of self-defense, but it puts Israel's request first among the legal grounds.
The administration's earlier letter to the Security Council, sent March 10 by Ambassador Michael Waltz, described the operations as “being conducted in close cooperation with, and in the collective self-defense of Israel.” The “at the request of” language appears in the State Department memo. The memo treats Operation Epic Fury as “only the latest round of an ongoing international armed conflict with Iran,” says the United States “does not rely on a theory of imminence to justify its actions in this case,” and notes that the U.S. sent both a new War Powers notification to Congress and an Article 51 letter to the Security Council after operations resumed on February 28.
The memo followed an April 7 New York Times report that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pitched Trump on a joint attack in the White House Situation Room on February 11; U.S. military commanders reportedly called parts of his plan “farcical.” Trump also told The Times of Israel that ending the war would be a “mutual” decision made with Netanyahu, according to The New Republic.
Correction (October 2, 2026): This entry previously described the Rubinstein document as a release “filed with the United Nations Security Council” and dated the story to April 27. It is an April 21 State Department legal memorandum, posted on state.gov, that cites earlier U.S. letters to the Security Council; The New Republic reported it on April 24, and the entry's date is now April 21. The “at the request of” wording appears in the memo; the March 10 U.N. letter said “in close cooperation with, and in the collective self-defense of Israel.” The claim that the filing “says the opposite” of Trump was softened, since the memo also invokes the United States' own right of self-defense. Unsourced constitutional and War Powers deadline assertions, and a claim that Trump walked back his “mutual decision” remark, were removed.