Tensions between the United States and Iran continue to rise as one U.S. drone got taken down near the Persian Gulf on Thursday.
President Donald Trump immediately Tweeted, “Iran made a very big mistake!’’ this morning as Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said it had shot down an intruding American spy drone after it entered into the country’s territory on Thursday.
According to a U.S. official, Trump is attending the meeting to mull responses to Iran’s actions this morning. Another official said that outgoing Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and incoming Acting Defense Secretary Mark Esper would both attend and National Security adviser John Bolton is also expected to meet with Pentagon officials.
On Wednesday evening, President Trump had an interview with Sean Hannity from Fox News as he said: “Don’t worry about a thing. Everything is under control.”
According to CNN, for Trump, the situation will provide a test of his willingness to engage Iran after weeks of escalation, including attacks on oil tankers in the Gulf. In meetings with his national security team over the past several weeks, Trump has maintained his skepticism toward going to war with Iran, telling advisers he isn’t interested in sending American troops into another engagement in the Middle East.
Another U.S official said that Trump, while keeping a close eye on the situation, has not voiced a firm view of how he wanted to proceed going forward – instead of asking for options without stating what his end goal might be.
Trump had an interview with Time magazine earlier this week, in which he said: “I would certainly go over nuclear weapons and I would keep the other a question mark.’’
A source that knows the situation was speaking with CNN as he said:
“With mines placed above the water, they knew this wasn’t going to have a lot of collateral damage. It’s symbolic, and it was to affect the markets, but it hasn’t had much effect.’’
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