Donald Trump confirms reversing order for strikes on Iran
Replying to @realDonaldTrump
Replying to @realDonaldTrump
US president says likelihood of 'disproportionate' Iranian casualties stayed his hand
President Donald Trump said on Friday that he halted retaliatory strikes on Iran over the downing of a US surveillance drone to prevent high casualties.
"We were cocked & loaded to retaliate last night on 3 different sights when I asked, how many will die. 150 people, sir, was the answer from a General. 10 minutes before the strike I stopped it, not proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone," Mr Trump said on Twitter, confirming earlier reports that US forces had been preparing to launch attacks when they were called off.
"I am in no hurry, our Military is rebuilt, new, and ready to go, by far the best in the world," the US president said. "Sanctions are biting & more added last night. Iran can NEVER have Nuclear Weapons, not against the USA, and not against the WORLD!"
He did not specify what the sanctions were, and there was no announcement of any fresh punitive action from the Treasury Department.
Mr Trump did not say which sites were to be attacked but senior administration officials quoted by the New York Times said Mr Trump had approved stries against targets such as radar stations and missile batteries.
US House of Representatives' Speaker Nancy Pelosi voiced her relief on Friday that Trump had decided not to strike Iran.
"A strike of that amount of collateral damage would be very provocative, and I'm glad the president did not take that," Pelosi said.
She urged Trump to seek congressional approval before any military action against Iran.
A day after tensions escalated in a chain of fast moving events, Trump told American news channel NBC on Friday that he is not looking to go to war with Iran.
"I'm not looking for war, and if there is it'll be obliteration like you've never seen before. But I'm not looking to do that."
According to Iranian officials who spoke to Reuters, the US president also sent a message to Tehran through Oman to warn that a US attack on Iran was imminent but he would rather begin talks.
"Trump said he was against any war with Iran and wanted to talk to Tehran about various issues ... He gave a short period of time to get our response but Iran's immediate response was that it is up to Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei to decide about this issue," one of the officials said.
"We made it clear that the leader is against any talks, but the message will be conveyed to him to make a decision," a second official said. "However, we told the Omani official that any attack against Iran will have regional and international consequences."
The US has requested a closed-door UN Security Council meeting on Iran and the latest developments in the Gulf, a senior diplomat told The National on Friday.
The discussions will take place in private and are planned for Monday afternoon, focusing on the recent attacks against oil tankers in the Gulf and the Iranian downing of the US spy drone, the diplomat said.
The downing of the Global Hawk drone in the Strait of Hormuz, which the Pentagon says was above international waters but Iran says was over its territory, raised tensions between the US and Iran even further after a series of attacks on tanker ships in the region that Washington blamed on Tehran.
On Friday Iranian state television broadcast images purporting to be of debris from the drone, which it claimed was recovered inside its territorial waters.
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