 Welcome to Wednesday's Washington Secrets. Today, we offer a handy list of the shifting reasons for Donald Trump's conflict in Iran, and we explain why Rubio is ready to "unleash Chiang" … You could hear the irritation as Marco Rubio addressed reporters, contempt dripping from every word. "Listen, let me explain to you guys this in simple English, OK?" the secretary of state said. "Iran is run by lunatics … religious fanatic lunatics. They have an ambition to have nuclear weapons. "They intend to develop those nuclear weapons behind a program of missiles, and drones, and terrorism. That the world will not be able to touch them for fear of those things." Iran is weaker than it has ever been. And the world will be a safer place when the clerics no longer have drones, missiles, or any chance of building nuclear weapons, he said. In so doing, he tied together the seven shifting reasons that Donald Trump and his senior officials have given for launching military strikes on Iran. And put a bow on top. Consider this your cut-out-and-keep guide to the rolling roster of justifications — some contradictory, some illegal — that have sown confusion among reporters. 1. Nuclear weapons "It's a very simple message: They will never have a nuclear weapon." And so was delivered one of the most decisive lines from Trump's video message announcing Operation Epic Fury. Couldn't be simpler than that, eh? 2. Imminent threat Never one to avoid a lily ungilded or an oval-shaped office ungoldened, Trump layered on the justifications in that short video. "Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people," he said, perhaps aware that imminent threats carry the advantage of offering a legal defense for a military assault. 3. Regime change But then it gets trickier. "When we are finished, take over your government," he told Iranians. "It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations." Wars of regime change are anathema to the anti-neocons in the Trump base. All week, officials have hemmed and hawed about whether the conflict is really about dumping the clerics. Instead, one big-brained administration-adjacent figure told Secrets that it is about creating the conditions for regime change rather than regime change itself. Whatever that means. 4. Proxy armies and terrorism Trump emphasized a fourth point during a Medal of Honor ceremony at the White House, while completely avoiding regime change. "And finally, we're ensuring that the Iranian regime cannot continue to arm, fund, and direct terrorist armies outside of their borders," he said of a country that has supported and armed groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. 5. Conventional missiles as a 'shield' for nuclear ambitions The next day, War Secretary Pete Hegseth introduced another reason. "Iran was building powerful missiles and drones to create a conventional shield for their nuclear blackmail ambitions," he said during a Pentagon briefing. "Our bases, our people, our allies, all in their crosshairs — Iran had a conventional gun to our head as they tried to lie their way to a nuclear bomb." 6. Israeli preemption Later that day, Rubio offered a sixth factor. Washington launched the attack because officials knew that Israel was planning to strike Iran, he told reporters. "We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action, we knew that 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," he said. Eh? 7. Iran was going to attack first In the Oval Office on Tuesday, with the chancellor of Germany sitting beside him, Trump directly contradicted what Rubio had said a day earlier. The president said, "We were having negotiations with these lunatics, and it was my opinion that they were going to attack first. If we didn't do it, they were going to attack first. I felt strongly about that." It seems as if the arc runs from a carefully constructed launch video to the president's gut feeling. Have you seen another reason? Secrets would love to know. Email us with your Iran conflict justifications. Rubio gets ready to serve it up to Iran Rubio had reporters scratching their heads when he also promised to "unleash Chiang" on Iran yesterday, except for those who know their anti-Communist history and the secretary of state's mentor, Jeb Bush. When Rubio became Florida House speaker in 2005, Bush delivered a rousing speech invoking a figure who held an important place in his family's lore. "Chang is a mystical warrior. Chang is somebody who believes in conservative principles, believes in entrepreneurial capitalism, believes in moral values that underpin a free society," Bush said, according to Politico. "I rely on Chang with great regularity in my public life. He has been by my side, and sometimes I let him down. But Chang, this mystical warrior, has never let me down." He then presented Rubio with a ceremonial golden sword, inscribed with the name "Chiang" — the actual spelling. For it turns out that "Unleash Chiang" was the 1950s rallying cry of John Birchers, who pushed the United States to arm the Chinese nationalist leader of Taiwan in his campaign to retake communist China from Chairman Mao Zedong. His name? Chiang Kai-shek. The phrase "unleash Chiang" took up a special place in the Bush family. Avid tennis player George H.W. Bush, who headed the U.S. diplomatic mission to Beijing during the '70s, would promise to "unleash Chiang" as he prepared to serve. Anyway, it's nice of Rubio to remind us that he was schooled at the knee of "Low Energy" Jeb Bush. Nice and, given his 2028 ambitions and key role in the Trump administration, rather brave. Read more about Chiang: How China Was 'Lost' Lunchtime reading Pentagon official defends new national defense strategy's 'flexible realism' in Senate hearing: Ignore the tedious headline, and instead marvel at the way Elbridge Colby tries to thread the needle of a foreign policy that takes the middle road between isolationism and an aggressive use of military force around the globe. While American warplanes bomb Iran. How Talarico won over Latino voters to win the Texas Democratic Senate primary: There is a lot of news out of last night's midterm primaries. This piece is worth a look, as one of the questions to watch this year is whether the Trump 2024 coalition can hold together when the president is not on the ballot. In this case, they went for a Democrat who promised to bring down the political temperature, rather than his firebrand rival. Is there a lesson there for Republicans who now have to choose between an incumbent senator and his controversial, fire-breathing rival? You are reading Washington Secrets, a guide to power and politics in D.C. and beyond. It is written by Rob Crilly, whom you can reach at secrets@washingtonexaminer DOT COM with your comments, story tips, and suggestions. If a friend sent you this and you'd like to sign up, click here. | 
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