Trump says he called off Iran strikes when told 150 people would be killed

President Trump on Friday confirmed he called off military strikes against Iran at the last moment, saying he decided this would not have been a "proportionate" response.

Trump tweeted following a New York Times report that the operation was called off on Thursday night while planes were in the air, although the report wasn't clear on what led to the sudden change in strategy. This came after Iran shot down a U.S. drone, which Iran said was in its airspace while the U.S. said it was in international airspace.

In a Twitter thread on Friday morning, Trump said that "we were cocked & loaded to retaliate last night on 3 different sights" but that he called it off 10 minutes beforehand after being informed that 150 people would die. He went on say that he decided the strikes were "not proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone" and that "I am in no hurry."

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Trump had previously speculated that Iran bringing down the U.S. drone might have been a mistake made by a "loose and stupid" person, telling reporters "you'll find out" what his response would be.