Cocked & Loaded, but... A Huge Cost for Inaction? Trump Called Off Iran Strike | Top Iranian General: We Could Have Downed a US Plane With Crew of 35, but Didn’t (Video)
6-21-19
Chris Wallace invokes Obama to criticize Trump on Iran
dcExaminer
Trump says he called off disproportionate Iran strike that would have killed 150
President says US military was ‘cocked and loaded’ to retaliate against Tehran for downing American drone; report says US has doubts its planes may have violated Iran airspace
WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump said the US was “cocked and loaded” to retaliate against Iran for downing an American drone Thursday, but canceled the strikes 10 minutes before they were to be carried out after being told some 150 people could die.
Trump tweeted Friday that the US was ready to “retaliate last night on 3 different sights when I asked, how many will die.” He said a general told him 150 people, and he canceled the strikes as “not proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone.”
Trump tweeted that the US will never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. But he said he’s in no hurry to respond to the downing of the US surveillance drone over the Strait of Hormuz.
The United States abruptly called off preparations for a military strike against Iran over the downing of a US surveillance drone, a US official said, while Iran claimed Friday it had issued several warnings before shooting down the drone over what it said was Iranian territory.
A US official, who was not authorized to discuss the operation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the targets would have included radars and missile batteries.
The swift reversal was a reminder of the serious risk of military conflict between US and Iranian forces as the Trump administration combines a “maximum pressure” campaign of economic sanctions with a buildup of American forces in the region. As tensions mounted in recent weeks, there have been growing fears that either side could make a dire miscalculation that led to war .
On Friday, the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard’s aerospace division told Iranian state television that Iran had given repeated warnings before launching a missile at the US military surveillance drone.
Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, standing in front of what Iranian authorities described as pieces of the US Navy RQ-4A Global Hawk drone, told state TV that Iranians gave the warnings over radio frequencies that are routinely monitored by drone pilots and the US military. “Unfortunately, they did not answer,” he said.
Trump Orders Last Minute Stand-Down. Thank You, Mr. President
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Top Iranian general: We could have downed a US plane with crew of 35, but didn’t
Head of IRGC aerospace force says army deliberately avoided targeting jet that accompanied drone, claims 2 warnings were given before UAV was destroyed
A top commander in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said Friday Iran could have downed an aircraft carrying American personnel on Thursday when it destroyed a large US drone over the Persian Gulf, but chose not to do so.
“We could have targeted a P-8 American plane” accompanying the drone Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, commander of the IRGC’s aerospace force, said, as he unveiled parts of the drone which were recovered by the Iranian navy. “But we did not do this.”
He claimed the plane carried 35 people and had also infiltrated Iranian airspace.
The P-8 is a US maritime surveillance plane with and anti-shipping and anti submarine warfare capabilities.
Hajizadeh also said Iran’s forces gave two warnings before downing the reconnaissance drone.
“Twice we… sent warnings,” he said, without specifying the means. “Unfortunately, when they failed to reply… and the aircraft made no change to its trajectory… we were obliged to shoot it down.”
The US said Friday Iran has no right to respond to diplomacy “with military force.”
“Our diplomacy does not give Iran the right to respond with military force,” Brian Hook, the US special representative on Iran, told reporters in Saudi Arabia.
“Iran needs to meet diplomacy with diplomacy, not military force.”
The downing of the drone — which Washington insists was over international waters but Tehran says was within its airspace — has seen tensions between the two countries spike further after a series of attacks on tankers the US and its staunch ally, Saudi Arabia, have blamed on Iran.
Tehran denies having been behind those attacks but has frequently threatened in the past to block the vital sea lanes into and out of the Gulf.
“Iran is responsible for escalating tensions in the region. They continue to reject diplomatic overtures to deescalate tensions,” Hook said.
The US diplomat was in Saudi Arabia, where he met deputy defense minister Prince Khaled bin Salman on Friday.
The two discussed efforts to counter Iranian actions, Salman said on Twitter.
“We affirmed the kingdom’s support for the United States’ maximum pressure campaign on Iran, which came as a result of continuing Iranian hostility and terrorism, and discussed latest Iranian attacks on the kingdom,” he said.
US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly said he does not want war, offered mixed messages over the drone, warning that Iran “made a very big mistake” — but also suggesting a “loose and stupid” Iranian general accidentally shot it down.
Tensions between Tehran and Washington have grown sharply since May last year when Trump unilaterally abandoned a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between major powers and Iran, and reimposed sweeping sanctions. The international agreement intended to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for relief from earlier sanctions.
The US has since bolstered its military presence in the Middle East and blacklisted Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organisation.
Trump has said he remains open to negotiations with Iran, but its supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei last week categorically ruled out talks with Trump after his abandonment of the nuclear deal.
Iran “has no trust in America and will not in any way repeat the bitter experience of the previous negotiations with America,” Khamenei said.
Reuters reported that Trump on Thursday night urged Iran to come to the table to hold talks in a message conveyed through Oman, and warned that a US strike against the Islamic Republic in response to the drone incident could be imminent.
That report came after American officials said the US made preparations for a military strike against Iran, but the operation was abruptly called off with just hours to go.
The official, who was not authorized to discuss the operation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the targets would have included radars and missile batteries.
The New York Times reported that Trump had approved the strikes Thursday night, but then called them off. The newspaper cited anonymous senior administration officials.
The White House has declined requests for comment.
According to an official who spoke to The Associated Press, the strikes were recommended by the Pentagon and were among the options presented to senior administration officials.
The Times of Israel
Trump tweets that he’s in no hurry to act on Iran
Fox Business (Story atarts at 1:00 ) Fox News contributor John Layfield on the markets’ lack of a reaction to tensions with Iran and President Trump’s tweet about the mounting U.S. standoff with Iran.
#war #prophecy #iran #shtf #prepare #middleeast
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Whistler Blowers, Insiders
i believe we have a lot of politicians who are eager for war if some one else’s son or daughter is in the line of fire and if this war would divert attention away from the deep state politicians who have committed treason. starting a war over a drone that may or may not have been in Iranian air space makes no sense, it amounts to they said this or they did that back and forth. so who benefits from a war Mr. Lindsay Graham since you want war with somebody or anybody. thankfully Trump has enough common sense, wisdom and feelings to care about how many will die over nothing and will let the sanctions do their work. alas we did not have this wisdom in previous wars all the way back to Vietnam where 54k died for nothing over a politician led fiasco where war mongering elitist profited from others dying and ended up accomplishing nothing.
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