Trump suggests Iran’s shootdown of drone was accidental
President Donald Trump declared Thursday that “Iran made a
very big mistake” in shooting down a US drone but suggested it was an accident
rather than a strategic error. Asked about a US response, he said repeatedly,
“You’ll find out.”
A few minutes earlier, a senior US military officer said
Iran shot down the huge, unmanned American aircraft over international waters
in an attempt to disrupt US efforts to monitor the Arabian Gulf area where
Trump has blamed Iran for attacking shipping vessels.
But Trump said he could not imagine the missile attack on
the drone was intentional and he had a feeling “a general or somebody”
mistakenly ordered the attack.
Some members of Congress expressed alarm at the possibility
of open conflict in the Middle East, especially after Trump’s morning tweet
that said only, “Iran made a very big mistake.” But when asked about it later,
he merely described the incident as a “new wrinkle” in escalating tensions
between the US and Iran — a “fly in the ointment.”
Still he said the US “will not stand for it.”
Shortly before Trump spoke, at a photo opportunity with
visiting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Air Force Lt. Gen. Joseph
Guastella, commander of US Central Command air forces in the region, took a
different tack from Trump’s idea of an accidental shootdown.
“This attack is an attempt to disrupt our ability to monitor
the area following recent threats to international shipping and free flow of
commerce,” he said.
Iran said earlier that it shot down the drone after it
violated its territorial airspace. Guastella disputed that contention, telling
reporters that the unmanned aircraft was 34 kilometers from the nearest Iranian
territory and flying at high altitude when struck by a surface-to-air missile.
The downing of the drone follows of weeks of escalating
tensions in the Middle East, starting with the US announcement last month that
it was rushing an aircraft carrier strike group and other military assets to
the Arabian Gulf area in response to Iranian threats.
The Trump administration has been putting increasing
economic pressure for more than a year. It reinstated punishing sanctions
following Trump’s decision to pull the US out of an international agreement
intended to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for relief from earlier
sanctions.
Trump has said repeatedly that the US does not want war in
the Mideast, yet members of Congress reacted quickly with that possibility as
background.
The Senate’s top Democrat called the downing of the American
drone “deeply concerning” and accused the administration of not having an Iran
strategy and keeping Congress and the American people in the dark.
“The president needs to explain to the American people why
he’s driving us toward another endless conflict in the Middle East,” said Sen.
Chuck Schumer of New York.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she doesn’t think Trump
wants war with Iran and the American people have “no appetite” for it either.
She said the US needs to be “strong and strategic” about
protecting its interests and “cannot be reckless.”
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