NYT: Trump Approves strikes against Iran, Then Abruptly Pulls Back

President Trump approved military strikes against Iran before dawn Friday but pulled back from launching them on Thursday night, the New York Times reports, according to Press TV.

The paper cited military and diplomatic officials as saying that the US president had initially approved attacks on a handful of Iranian targets, like radar and missile batteries.

“The operation was underway in its early stages when it was called off,” the Times said, citing what it called a senior administration official.

“Planes were in the air and ships were in position, but no missiles had been fired when word came to stand down,” the official said.

The source said that US forces were woken up around 2 am local time “within the hour” of striking, then nothing happened. Plans to attack were said to have still been on by 6:30, even 7 pm EDT.

 A Pentagon official told Newsweek that among the US’ designated targets was the S-125 Neva/Pechora surface-to-air missile system and a Soviet system known to the NATO Western military alliance as SA-3 Goa.

The US military claims this weapon was used by the IRGC to down the Navy RQ-4A Global Hawk drone. However, Iran has officially stated that it used the domestically produced 3rd Khordad transporter erector launcher and radar, a variant of the locally-made Raad surface-to-air missile system.

Trump initially issued a series of cataclysmic threats, insisting that the RQ-4 Global Hawk was flying over international waters when it was taken down by an Iranian missile.

However, the GPS coordinates released by Iran put the drone eight miles off the country’s coast, inside the 12 nautical miles from the shore, which is Iran’s territorial waters. 

Trump’s decision to call of the strike came after intense discussions and debate at the White House among the president’s top national security officials and congressional leaders in the Situation Room, the paper said.

According to The New York Times, Trump’s national security advisers split about “whether to respond militarily” after Iran shot down a US surveillance drone for intruding into its airspace.

Senior administration officials said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, hawkish national security adviser John Bolton and CIA director Gina Haspel had favored a military raid.

Iran releases first photos of downed US drone’s wreckage

Iran has released the first photos of the wreckage of a US spy drone which was shot down early Thursday after intruding into the Iranian airspace.

The IRGC Aerospace Force displayed parts of the doomed drone on Friday noon, refuting earlier claims by the US that the UAE was flying over international waters, and had not violated the Iranian airspace.

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps said Thursday it had shot down the unmanned US aircraft after it breached the country’s airspace.

Iran issued “numerous” warnings before shooting down the aircraft, Brigadier General Qader Rahimzadeh, the second-in-command of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbia Air Defense Base, said on Friday.

The last warning was issued at 3:55 am, ten minutes before the shoot-down, IRGC Aerospace Commander Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said.

Iran Refrains from Shooting down Intruding US Plane with 35 People on Board

Hajizadeh told reporters on Friday that Iran has refrained from shooting down a US plane with 35 people on board that was accompanying an American spy drone which was shot down in the Gulf region after intruding into the Iranian airspace.

“Along with the US drone, there was also an American P-8 plane with 35 people on board,” he said.

“This plane has also entered our airspace and we could have targeted it, but we did not because our purpose behind shooting down the American drone was to give a warning to terrorist American forces,” Hajizadeh added.

Swiss ambassador summoned

The Swiss envoy, whose country represents the US interests in Iran, was later summoned to the Iranian foreign ministry on Friday morning, and received an official note which he said will immediately deliver to the US.

 In a meeting with an Iranian foreign ministry official, Swiss Ambassador Markus Leitner was asked to tell the US that the Islamic Republic is not after a war with any country, but the Iranian Armed Forces will give a “crushing response to any aggression.”

The Swiss envoy was told that the US will be held accountable for the consequences of such provocative measures.

“The Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will show restraint as long as possible to preserve the security and tranquility of the sensitive region of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman.

“But if the other side takes a provocative and unconsidered move, they will not hesitate to give a reciprocal response with unpredictable consequences,” the Iranian official noted, saying the response will be detrimental to all parties involved.

In a letter on Thursday, Iran’s Ambassador to the UN Majid Takht-Ravanchi told the United Nations that the international community needs to confront Washington’s destabilizing actions.

“Iran condemns, in the strongest possible terms, this irresponsible and provocative wrongful act by the United States, which entails its international responsibility,” he wrote in a letter addressed to UN chief António Guterres and the UN Security Council on Thursday.

 Takht-Ravanchi wrote that Iran had the right to defend its sovereignty according to the world body’s Charter.

H.M