Trump Warns Iran that US ‘Cocked & Loaded’ but ‘In No Hurry’
U. S. CENTCOM A U.S. Navy RQ-4 was flying over the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz on a surveillance mission in international airspace in the vicinity of recent IRGC maritime attacks when it was shot down by an IRGC surface to air missile fired from a location in the vicinity of Goruk, Iran.
This was an unprovoked attack on a U.S. surveillance asset that had not violated Iranian airspace at any time during its mission.
This attack is an attempt to disrupt our ability to monitor the area following recent threats to international shipping and free flow of commerce.
Iranian reports that this aircraft was shot down over Iran are categorically false.
The aircraft was over the Strait of Hormuz and fell into international waters.
At the time of the intercept, the RQ-4 was operating at high-altitude approximately 34 kilometers from the nearest point of land on the Iranian coast.
This dangerous and escalatory attack was irresponsible and occurred in the vicinity of established air corridors between Dubai, UAE, and Muscat Oman.” Attributable to Lt. Gen. Joseph Guastella, Commander, U.S. Air Forces Central Command 20 June
Trump Warns Iran that US ‘Cocked & Loaded’ but ‘In No Hurry’
The United States was “cocked & loaded,” ready to strike three sites in Iran in retaliation for the downing of a U.S. drone over the Strait of Hormuz but called off the attacks at the last possible moment to spare Iranian lives.
The revelation by U.S. President Donald Trump on social media Friday followed a series of reports, first by The New York Times, that the president initially authorized strikes on a handful of Iranian targets, such as radar and missile batteries, before pulling back.
“We were cocked & loaded to retaliate last night on 3 different sights when I asked, how many will die. 150 people, sir, was the answer from a General. 10 minutes before the strike I stopped it,” Trump tweeted, saying the action would have been disproportionate.
“I am in no hurry,” Trump added. “Our Military is rebuilt, new, and ready to go, by far the best in the world.”
The president also said that he authorized additional “biting” sanctions against Iran late Thursday night as part of his administration’s maximum pressure campaign to force Iran to restart negotiations over its nuclear program.
“Iran can NEVER have Nuclear Weapons, not against the USA, and not against the WORLD!” Trump tweeted.
The U.S. decision to hold off on military strikes against Tehran appears to pull both Washington and Tehran back from the brink of an armed conflict that could engulf much of the Middle East.
It also would appear to leave open room for dialogue between the two adversaries.
The Reuters news agency reported early Friday that Iranian officials said they had received a message from Trump via Oman overnight, warning of the imminent attack but also that the United States was willing to talk on a range of issues.
But one of the Iranian officials said the offer to talk was met with a firm response.
“We told the Omani official that any attack against Iran will have regional and international consequences,” the official said.
Concern about a potential armed confrontation between the U.S. and Iran has been growing since U.S. officials last week accused Tehran of being responsible for mine attacks on two oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, allegations Tehran denies.
U.S. officials have also been voicing growing concern about numerous “threat streams” to U.S. military personnel, U.S. assets and U.S. interests in the Middle East that all “link back to the Iranian regime.”
The U.S. announced this week it was authorizing another 1,000 troops — including a Patriot missile battery and additional manned and unmanned reconnaissance aircraft – to bolster defenses at U.S. positions in Iraq and Syria.
On Thursday, while meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Trump called the shoot down of the U.S. drone, “a new fly in the ointment.”
He also said the unmanned surveillance drone – a U.S. Navy RQ-4 Global Hawk — was flying over international waters in the Strait of Hormuz when it was hit by an Iranian missile, calling the incident Trump a “very bad mistake.”
Iran has argued the drone flew into its air space, claiming a “blatant violation of International law.”
On Friday, the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, showed off pieces of wreckage he said Iran had recovered after shooting down the U.S. drone.
He also said Iran itself had shown restraint, opting not take shoot down another U.S. plane, sparing American lives.
“Another spy aircraft called P8 was flying close to this drone,” Hajizadeh said. “That aircraft is manned, and has around 35 crew members, well we could have targeted that plane.”
“It was our right to do so, and yes it was American, but we didn’t do it,” he said.
U.S. Air Forces Central Command, which oversees U.S. military activity in the region, has called many of the Iranian claims “categorically false.”
“This attack is an attempt to disrupt our ability to monitor the area following recent threats to international shipping and free flow of commerce,” Lt. Gen Joseph Guastella said in a statement he read to reporters at the Pentagon Thursday, adding the drone was 34 kilometers from the Iranian coastline when it was shot down. Under international law territorial waters extend about 22 kilometers (12 nautical miles) from a country’s coast.
The U.S. Defense Department has also released images to bolster its assertion the drone did not enter Iranian airspace. But the Times reported the department erroneously labeled the drone’s fight path the location where it was shot down. An image apparently showing the airborne drone exploding provided little context, the Times reported.
Independent confirmation of the drone’s location when it was shot down was not immediately available.
The RQ-4 drone costs more than $222 million and can surveil about 100,000 square kilometers a day, an area about the size of South Korea or Iceland.
The Strait of Hormuz is of great strategic importance, as nearly one quarter of the world’s traded oil passes through the waterway, connecting Middle East energy producers to global markets.
BACKGROUND
June 13, 2019 —
U.S. Naval Forces in the region received two separate distress calls at 6:12 a.m. local time from the motor tanker (M/T) Altair and a second one at 7a.m. local time from the M/T Kokuka Courageous.
Both vessels were in international waters in the Gulf of Oman approximately 10 nautical miles apart at the time of the distress calls. USS Bainbridge was approximately 40 nautical miles away from the M/T Altair at the time of the attack, and immediately began closing the distance.
At 8:09 a.m. local time a U.S. aircraft observed an IRGC Hendijan class patrol boat and multiple IRGC fast attack craft/fast inshore attack craft (FAC/FIAC) in the vicinity of the M/T Altair.
At 9:12 a.m. local time a U.S. aircraft observes the FAC/FIAC pull a raft from the M/T Altair from the water.
At 9:26 a.m. local time the Iranians requested that the motor vessel Hyundai Dubai, which had rescued the sailors from the M/T Altair, to turn the crew over to the Iranian FIACs. The motor vessel Hyundai Dubai complied with the request and transferred the crew of the M/T Altair to the Iranian FIACs.
At 11:05 a.m. local time USS Bainbridge approaches the Dutch tug Coastal Ace, which had rescued the crew of twenty-one sailors from the M/T Kokuka Courageous who had abandoned their ship after discovering a probable unexploded limpet mine on their hull following an initial explosion.
While the Hendijan patrol boat appeared to attempt to get to the tug Coastal Ace before USS Bainbridge, the mariners were rescued by USS Bainbridge at the request of the master of the M/T Kokuka Courageous. The rescued sailors are currently aboard USS Bainbridge.
At 4:10 p.m. local time an IRGC Gashti Class patrol boat approached the M/T Kokuka Courageous and was observed and recorded removing the unexploded limpet mine from the M/T Kokuka Courageous.
The U.S. and our partners in the region will take all necessary measures to defend ourselves and our interests. Today’s attacks are a clear threat to international freedom of navigation and freedom of commerce.
The U.S. and the international community, stand ready to defend our interests, including the freedom of navigation.
The United States has no interest in engaging in a new conflict in the Middle East. However, we will defend our interests.
– attributable to Capt. Bill Urban, Lead Spokesman for U.S. Central Command
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