Trump Called Off The Strike Against Iran 10 Minutes Before Launch
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Strait of Hormuz, aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower followed by the fast combat support ship USNS Arctic and the guided missile destroyer USS Nitze transit the Strait of Hormuz, PD (Presented at: WindermereSun.com)
Map of Strait of Hormuz, with maritime political boundaries, 2004, PD (Presented at: WindermereSun.com)
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This is an update of our previous post, The Aftermath of Iran Shooting Down U.S. Drone.
Even though the United States military had been “cocked and loaded” to strike against Iran on Thursday night, according to President Trump, on Friday morning, about 10 minutes before the launch, President Trump called off the strike after a general told him that 150 people would probably die in the attack. Trump explained his decision on Twitter, indicating the response would have been “not proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone.”
There was a plan to strike Iran, but it was called off because President Trump says it would not be proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone. Stephanie Ruhle is joined by Trump biographer Tim O’Brien, Nicholas Rasmussen, who has seen the most highly classified intelligence on Iran for years, and New York Times Op-Ed Columnist Bret Stephens to discuss the president’s explanation of yesterday’s events, in the video “President Donald Trump Says He Stopped Iran Strike 10 Minutes Before Launch, Velshi & Ruhle, MSNBC“, below:
In an interview on MSNBC’s “Meet the Press,” President Donald Trump said he decided a strike that would kill 150 people, because it was “not proportionate” to Iran striking down an unmanned drone, in the video “Trump explains decision to call off Iran strike“, below:
President Trump says he called off a military strike against Iran because too many people would have died. CBS News national security correspondent David Martin joins CBSN from the Pentagon with more on Trump administration’s strategy, in the video “Trump says he called off Iran strike because too many people would’ve died“, below:
President Donald Trump abruptly called off military strikes against Iran after previously approving the strikes in retaliation for Iran shooting down a US military drone, The New York Times reports.
The operation was already underway in its initial stages — ships were in position and planes were in the air — but no missiles had been fired when the order came to stand down, a senior administration official told the Times. The strike had been scheduled for just before dawn on Friday in Iran to minimize the risk to civilians and the Iranian military, and military officials received word shortly after then that the strike was off, at least temporarily. The United States remains locked in a standoff with Iran, with US military or diplomatic responses having the potential to provoke further escalation from Tehran. Iran’s downing of a US drone earlier Thursday has left the President caught between Republicans demanding a response and congressional Democrats warning that Trump — and the Iran policy hardliners on his national security staff, who welcome the confrontation — could lose control of the situation and lead the US into war, in the video “NYT: Trump pulls back on approved military strikes on Iran“, below:
Keep in mind: we are in transition for the office of Secretary of Defense. There is another good reason for President Trump to have called off the strike, reason below:
Regardless whether Iranian’s shooting down the U.S. drone was due to miscalculations or due to intention, we need to remind ourselves of another incident between U.S. and Iran back in 1988, in the excerpt from wikipedia, in italics, below:
Iran Air Flight 655 was a scheduled passenger flight from Tehran to Dubai via Bandar Abbas, that was shot down on 3 July 1988 by an SM-2MR surface-to-air missile fired from USS Vincennes, a guided missile cruiser of the United States Navy. The aircraft, an Airbus A300, was destroyed and all 290 people on board including 66 children, were killed.[1] The jet was hit while flying over Iran‘s territorial waters in the Persian Gulf, along the flight’s usual route, shortly after departing Bandar Abbas International Airport, the flight’s stopover location. Vincenneshad entered Iranian territory after one of its helicopters drew warning fire from Iranian speedboats operating within Iranian territorial limits.[2][3]
The reason for the shootdown has been disputed between the governments of the two countries. According to the United States government, the crew of USS Vincennes had incorrectly identified the Airbus as an attacking F-14 Tomcat, a U.S.-made jet fighter that had been part of the Iranian Air Force inventory since the 1970s. While the F-14s had been supplied to Iran in an air-to-air configuration,[4][5] the crew of the guided missile cruiser had been briefed that the Iranian F-14s were equipped with air-to-ground ordnance.[6] Vincennes had made ten attempts to contact the aircraft on both military and civilian radio frequencies, but had received no response.[7] The International Civil Aviation Organization said that the flight crew should have been monitoring the civilian frequency.[8] According to the Iranian government, the cruiser negligently shot down the aircraft, which was transmitting IFF squawks in Mode III, a signal that identified it as a civilian aircraft, and not Mode II as used by Iranian military aircraft.[9][10] The event generated a great deal of criticism of the United States. Some analysts blamed the captain of Vincennes, William C. Rogers III, for overly-aggressive behavior in a tense and dangerous environment.[7][11] In the days immediately following the incident, US President Ronald Reagan issued a written diplomatic note to the Iranian government, expressing deep regret.[12]
In 1996, the governments of the United States and Iran reached a settlement at the International Court of Justice which included the statement “…the United States recognized the aerial incident of 3 July 1988 as a terrible human tragedy and expressed deep regret over the loss of lives caused by the incident…”[13] As part of the settlement, even though the U.S. government did not admit legal liability or formally apologize to Iran, it still agreed to pay US$61.8 million on an ex gratia basis, amounting to $213,103.45 per passenger, in compensation to the families of the Iranian victims.[14].
The shootdown is the deadliest aviation disaster involving an Airbus A300,[15] as well as the deadliest to occur in Iran.[16]
Conclusion: No one country is perfect. It is best to shift our nation’s attention from fossil fuel to renewable energy such as solar and wind in order to avoid much future international conflicts.
The video “The REAL reason the U.S. is picking a fight with Iran“, below:
Now, from the lighter perspective, in the video “Trump’s Next Move After Iran’s ‘Big Mistake‘”, below:
Gathered, written, and posted by Windermere Sun-Susan Sun Nunamaker More about the community at www.WindermereSun.com
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