Trump Approved, Then Called Off Iran Strike
On Thursday night, in retaliation for a U.S. drone was that shot down earlier this week, President Trump approved air strikes on Iran, but then pulled back on them, The New York Times reported.
According to the report, Trump approved attacks on Iranian targets, including radar and missile batteries, in response to that country having downed an American surveillance drone. The strikes, though, were “abruptly called off for the evening.”
The White House and Pentagon did not comment on the turn of events. It’s unclear why the airstrike was called off or if it will take place another time.
The reported plan comes amid a time of increased tensions between the U.S. and Iran. The Trump Administration, in May of 2018, pulled out of the nuclear deal reached with Iran by the Obama Administration and several other countries in 2015. The shooting down of the drone followed the Trump Administration’s choice to blame Iran for the explosion of oil tankers in the region. The U.S. announced that it is moving 1,000 more troops to the Middle East due to rising tensions, per Vox.
The $130 million surveillance drone was shot down in the Gulf of Oman, although the two countries disagree on its exact location, with Iran claiming it was flying in its own territorial waters and the U.S. saying it was not.
Trump approved a strike on Iran to be launched tonight in retaliation for drone shutdown but then abruptly changed his mind and pulled back. @shearm @EricSchmittNYT @michaelcrowley @maggieNYT https://t.co/VsLUUZ7l1T
— Peter Baker (@peterbakernyt) June 21, 2019
Congress was briefed on the situation, with Democrats warning the president not to escalate the situation. Per The Inquisitr, the president was widely mocked on Twitter for stating in public that there wasn’t a pilot in the drone at the time that it was shot down. Drones, by definition, are not manned.
“There was no man in it and there was no — it was just — it was over international waters, clearly over international waters, but we didn’t have a man or woman in the drone. We had nobody in the drone,” the president said, during a public availability with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Alexander Marquardt, a CNN national security correspondent, tweeted this week that it’s “Bolton vs. Trump” on the question of Iran, with National Security Advisor John Bolton favoring a hawkish approach to Iran, while Trump “does not want conflict.” Vice President Mike Pence, Security of State Mike Pompeo, and Acting Secretary of Defense Mark Esper are considered “swing votes” on the matter.
Bolton, per Mother Jones, is a longtime war hawk who has “wanted war with Iran since before you were born.”
