Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday awkwardly tried to walk back his comments rationalizing the deadly US attack on Iran to the very reporter he addressed a day before.

Rubio — when asked by CBS News’ Caitlin Huey-Burns on Monday if there was an “imminent threat” from Iran — claimed the US was “proactively” attacking Iran, suggesting that officials believed Israel would attack the country first in a move that would prompt Iran to “come after” US assets in the Middle East.

After President Donald Trump contradicted the messaging on Tuesday by claiming that “if anything, I might have forced Israel’s hand” to attack Iran, Huey-Burns confronted Rubio.

“Yesterday, you told us that Israel was going to strike Iran and that’s why we needed to get involved. Today, the president said that Iran was going to get —,” Huey-Burns began.

“No. Yeah, your statement’s false,” Rubio interjected. “So that’s not what he — I was asked very specifically. Were you there yesterday?”

Huey-Burns swiftly reminded Rubio, “Yes, I asked the question.”

“OK. No did you — were you the one that — ’cause somebody asked me a question yesterday, ‘Did we go in because of Israel?’ And I said —.”

He proceeded to point to another reporter he addressed just after Huey-Burns on Monday, “I said, ‘No.’ I told you, this had to happen anyway. The president made a decision, and the decision he made was that Iran was not going to be allowed to hide behind its ballistic missile program.”

Moments later, when confronted with his quote to Huey-Burns, Rubio added, “The bottom line is this: We — the president determined we were not going to get hit first. It’s that simple, guys.”

Critics on social media clowned Rubio’s awkward attempt to walk back his comments, including one Bluesky user who simply replied, “Good lord, the bullshit is deep here. 🙄.”