(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.”
Trump tweeted that the U.S. will never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. But he says he’s in no hurry to respond to the downing of the U.S. surveillance drone over the Strait of Hormuz.
He says U.S. sanctions are crippling the Iranian economy and that more are being added.
