US President Donald Trump has called off an imminentmilitary strike against Iran in retaliation for the downing an Americanmilitary drone by Tehran.
Trump had initially approved attacks on several Iraniantargets, such as radar and missile batteries, Xinhua news agency quoted a NewYork Times report as saying on Thursday citing administration officials.
Trump, however, on Thursday night called off the operationthat had been underway in its early stages, a senior administration officialsaid.
“Planes were in the air and ships were in position, butno missiles had been fired when word came to stand down,” the officialssaid.
The reason that Trump changed his mind at the last moment ofthe military strikes was unknown. The White House and the Pentagon declined tocomment, the report said.
The US military confirmed on Thursday that a RQ-4A GlobalHawk Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-airmissile system on Wednesday night.
Iran, however, claimed the drone downed in the southern partof the country had crossed Iranian borders.
“Iran made a very bad mistake,” Trump toldreporters, adding that the shootdown of the drone was “a new wrinkle”that the US would not tolerate.
This incident further inflamed the ongoing tensions betweenthe US and Iran which have been on the rise since Washington decided towithdraw from the Iran nuclear deal and resume “maximum” sanctionsagainst Tehran.
Earlier incidents including several attacks on oil tankersin the region in the past few weeks also took a toll on the worsening ties.