*WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump said Friday the US was “cocked &loaded” to strike Iran but pulled back at the last minute because it wouldnot have been a “proportionate” response to Tehran shooting down anAmerican drone.*
The downing of the drone — which Iran insists violated its airspace, aclaim Washington denies — has seen tensions between the countries spikeafter a series of attacks on tankers the US has blamed on Tehran.
Under pressure to respond to the high-stakes incident near the strategicStrait of Hormuz, Trump said the US was “cocked & loaded to retaliate” onThursday night by hitting “3 different sites,” but scrapped the strikesjust 10 minutes before they were carried out.
“I asked, how many will die. 150 people, sir, was the answer from aGeneral,” the president tweeted, saying he concluded it would not have been“proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone.”
“I am in no hurry, our Military is rebuilt, new, and ready to go,” he wrote.
The US president had struck a combative tone in his initial public commentsThursday about Iran shooting down the Global Hawk surveillance aircraft,but as the pre-dawn incident whipped up fears of open conflict, Trump movedto dial back tensions.
Iran vowed Friday to defend its borders after downing the drone, with thecommander of the aerospace arm of its elite Revolutionary Guards saying theaircraft was warned twice before it was engaged over the Gulf of Oman.
And it denied a report that Trump had warned it via Oman of an impendingattack unless it was willing to negotiate.
The US special representative on Iran, Brian Hook, said Tehran was“responsible for escalating tensions in the region” and accused it ofrejecting diplomatic overtures to deescalate the situation.
“Iran needs to meet diplomacy with diplomacy, not military force,” Hooktold reporters in Saudi Arabia.
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Oil prices edged down slightly Friday following the previous day’s surge ofmore than six percent, while the price of gold — seen as a safe haven asset— struck near six-year highs.
*– Flights rerouted –*
Iran said it had called in the Swiss ambassador, whose country hasrepresented US interests since the severance of diplomatic relations in theaftermath of the Islamic revolution of 1979, to issue a formal protest.
Iran’s deputy foreign minister Abbas Araghchi provided the ambassador with“indisputable” evidence the drone had violated Iranian airspace, theforeign ministry said.
Araghchi “reiterated that Iran does not seek a war and conflict in thePersian Gulf,” but warned: “The Islamic Republic of Iran would not hesitatefor a moment to decisively defend its territory against any aggression.”
Iranian television later broadcast images of what it said was “debris” ofthe downed drone recovered from Iran’s territorial waters.
The US Federal Aviation Administration warned that the shoot downdemonstrated the potential danger to flights and barred American civilianaircraft from the area “until further notice.” -APP/AFP
