Trump calls off Iranian strikes
President Donald Trump said yesterday the US was “cocked and loaded” to retaliate against Iran for downing an unmanned American surveillance drone but he cancelled the strikes minutes before they were to be launched after being told 150 people could die.
Trump’s tweeted statement raisedimportantquestions,including why he learned about possible deaths only at the last minute.
His stance was the latest example of the president showing some reluctance to escalate tensions with Iran into open military conflict. He did not rule out a future strike but said in a TV interview that the likelihood of casualties from the Thursday night plan to attack three sites in Iran did not seem like the correct response to shooting down an unmanned drone earlier in the day in the Strait of Hormuz.
“I didn’t think it was proportionate,” he said in an interview with NBC News’ Meet the Press.
The aborted attack was the closest the US has come to a direct military strike on Iran in the year since the administration pulled out of the 2015 international agreement intended to curb the Iranian nuclear programme and launched a campaign of increasing economic pressure against the Islamic Republic.
In Iran, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the head of the Revolutionary Guard’s aerospace division, told reporters yesterday that a US spy plane with around 35 crew memberswasflyingclosetotheunmanned US Navy RQ-4A Global Hawk that was shot down, but that Iran chose not to target the manned aircraft.
Late Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration barred American-registered aircraft from flying over parts of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, and several majour airlines from around the world yesterdaybegan rerouting their flights.
In his tweet, Trump defended his stance on Iran amid criticism from Democrats who accuse him of having no strategy. He said his exit from the deal and the re-imposition of sanctions on Iran has crippled its economy.
“I am in no hurry,” he said. “Sanctions are biting & more added last night. Iran can NEVER haveNuclearWeapons,notagainst the USA, and not against the WORLD!”
Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the chairman of the House intelligencecommittee,saidtheUSmust de-escalate the situation.
“I don’t think that people should be jumping down the president’s throat for wanting to think this throughandmakesurethatneither side miscalculates and we don’t inadvertently end up in a war with Iran,” he said. “It is also very important for the administration to understand ... that there is no congressional authorisation to go to war with Iran.”