U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he aborted a military strike to retaliate for Iran’s downing of an unmanned U.S. drone because it could have killed 150 people and signalled he was open to talks with Tehran.
An Iranian surface-to-air missile destroyed a U.S. Global Hawk surveillance drone on Thursday. Tehran said the drone was shot down over its territory and Washington said it occurred in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz.
The incident aggravated fears of a direct military clash between the longtime foes and oil prices rose more than 1% to above $65 per barrel on Friday over worries about possible disruptions to crude exports from the Gulf.
Trump’s abrupt decision to cancel what he said was a planned attack on three sites suggests he wants a diplomatic solution to end weeks of festering tensions with Iran, which Washington accuses of a spate of attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf region.
Iranian sources told Reuters that Trump had warned Iran via Oman that a U.S. attack on Iran was imminent but had said he was against war and wanted talks. Washington also requested a closed-door U.N. Security Council meeting on Monday.
In a series of early morning tweets, Trump said he was in no hurry to launch a strike and that U.S. economic sanctions designed to force Iran to curb its nuclear and missile programs and its involvement in regional wars were having an effect.
“We were cocked & loaded to retaliate last night,” he said.
“Ten minutes before the strike I stopped it, not proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone. I am in no hurry, our military is rebuilt, new, and ready to go, by far the best in the world,” Trump tweeted.
White House national security adviser John Bolton, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and CIA Director Gina Haspel, along with the rest of Trump’s team, favored a retaliatory strike, said a senior Trump administration official.
“There was complete unanimity amongst the president’s advisers and DOD (Department of Defense) leadership on an appropriate response to Iran’s activities. The president made the final decision,” said the official.
Trump’s abrupt decision drew mixed reviews in Washington, with some people criticizing him for flinching while others, notably senior Democrats, praising what they saw as restraint.
“A strike of that amount of collateral damage would be very provocative, and I’m glad the president did not take that,” House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in Congress, told reporters.
However, Michael Makovsky, a former Pentagon official who heads the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA), a think tank that favors strong U.S.-Israeli security ties, said Trump was undermining U.S. credibility.
“Trump has given the impression he lost his nerve,” Makovsky said in a statement.
Iran’s destruction of the U.S. drone was the latest among ever more serious incidents in the Gulf region, a critical artery for global oil supplies, since mid-May, including explosive strikes on six oil tankers.
After interviewing Trump for NBC’s “Meet the Press” program, NBC correspondent Chuck Todd said had said he had no preconditions for talks with Iran and was willing to speak to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani or Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
TRUMP MESSAGE TO IRAN
News of the Trump message to Iran, delivered through Oman overnight, broke shortly after the New York Times reported that Trump had called off air strikes targeting Iranian radar and missile batteries at the last minute.
“In his message, Trump said he was against any war with Iran and wanted to talk to Tehran about various issues,” one Iranian official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“He gave a short period of time to get our response but Iran’s immediate response was that it is up to Supreme Leader Khamenei to decide about this issue.”
A second Iranian official said: “We made it clear that the leader is against any talks, but the message will be conveyed to him to make a decision.
“However, we told the Omani official that any attack against Iran will have regional and international consequences.”
Khamenei has the last say on all state matters and has ruled out any talks with Washington while Tehran is under sanctions.
The most recent cycle of tension was sparked by Trump’s decision in May to tighten U.S. economic sanctions to try to eliminate Iran’s oil exports. The sanctions followed Trump’s 2018 decision to unilaterally abandon the 2015 deal between Iran and major powers under which Tehran curtailed its path to building a nuclear bomb in return for sanctions relief.
The sanctions have hurt Iran’s economy, squeezed its vital oil exports and barred it from the dollar-dominated global finance system, dimming hopes for a trade bonanza for Tehran for having curbed its nuclear capabilities under U.N. monitoring.
Iran this week threatened to breach one of the deal’s key limits by June 27, which could aggravate tensions further.
REUTERS