WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says the U.S. was "cocked and loaded" to retaliate against Iran for downing an American drone, 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 U.S. 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."
He says U.S. sanctions are crippling the Iranian economy and that more are being added.
The head of the Revolutionary Guard's aerospace division says a manned U.S. spy plane was near the drone it shot down but Iran chose not to target it.
Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh made the comment Friday at a news conference attended by The Associated Press in Tehran.
The Guard shot down a U.S. Navy RQ-4A Global Hawk on Thursday.
Hajizadeh said: "At the same moment, another spy aircraft called a P8 was flying close to this drone. That aircraft is manned and has around 35 crew members. Well, we could have targeted that plane, it was our right to do so, and yes it was American, but we didn't do it. We hit the unmanned aircraft."
The U.S. military's Central Command did not immediate respond to a request for comment.
TRUMP: US was 'cocked and loaded' to strike Iran 1
In this March 28, 2019 photo, President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally in Grand Rapids, Mich. Trump is suggesting he will defer until after 2020 his push for a Republican health care plan to replace the Affordable Care Act. Trump tweeted late Monday that Congress will vote on a GOP plan after the elections, ”when Republicans hold the Senate & win back the House.” (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)TRUMP: US was 'cocked and loaded' to strike Iran 2
(Staff Sgt. Ramon A. Adelan/U.S. Air Force via AP)TRUMP: US was 'cocked and loaded' to strike Iran 3
TRUMP: US was 'cocked and loaded' to strike Iran 4
(U.S. Central Command via AP)
