Trump says hard to believe Iranian shooting of U.S. drone was intentional

[webfact]

Trump says hard to believe Iranian shooting of U.S. drone was intentional

By Roberta Rampton, Phil Stewart and Parisa Hafezi

 

FILE PHOTO: An undated U.S. Air Force handout photo of a RQ-4 Global Hawk unmanned (drone) aircraft. U.S. Air Force/Bobbi Zapka/Handout/Files via REUTERS

 

WASHINGTON/DUBAI (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump played down Iran's downing of a U.S. military surveillance drone on Thursday, saying he suspected it was shot by mistake and "it would have made a big difference" to him had the remotely controlled aircraft been piloted.

 

While the comments appeared to suggest Trump was not eager to escalate the latest in a series of incidents with Iran, he also warned: "This country will not stand for it."

 

Tehran said the unarmed Global Hawk surveillance drone was on a spy mission over its territory, but Washington said it was shot down over international airspace.

 

"I think probably Iran made a mistake - I would imagine it was a general or somebody that made a mistake in shooting that drone down," Trump told reporters at the White House.

 

"We had nobody in the drone. It would have made a big difference, let me tell you, it would have made a big, big difference" if the aircraft had been piloted, Trump said as he met Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the Oval Office.

 

"It's hard to believe it was intentional, if you want to know the truth," he added, saying it could have been carried out by someone who was acting "loose and stupid," and minimizing the incident as "a new wrinkle ... a new fly in the ointment."

 

The United States, which called the event an "unprovoked attack" in international airspace, is using economic sanctions to pressure Iran to contain its nuclear and ballistic missile programs and to limit its role in regional wars.

 

It was the latest in an escalating series of incidents in the Gulf region, a critical artery for global oil supplies, since mid-May, including explosive strikes on six oil tankers.

 

It was unclear how the United States might respond and U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in Congress, said Washington had no appetite for war with Iranand should "do everything in our power to de-escalate."

 

After a White House briefing for lawmakers, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, told reporters he was worried Trump "may bumble into a war" and said he and his fellow Democrats believed congressional approval was needed to fund any conflict with Iran.

 

Iran has denied involvement in the tanker attacks, but global jitters about a new Middle East conflagration disrupting oil exports have triggered a jump in crude prices.

 

Saudi Arabia, Washington's main Gulf ally, said Iran had created a grave situation with its "aggressive behaviour" and the kingdom was consulting other Gulf Arab states on next steps.

 

Tensions with Iran flared with Trump's withdrawal last year from a 2015 nuclear accord with Iranand have worsened as Washington imposed fresh sanctions to throttle Tehran's vital oil trade.Iran retaliated earlier this week with a threat to breach limits on its nuclear activities imposed by the deal.

 

'SPY' DRONE

Iranian state media said the "spy" drone was brought down over the southern Iranian province of Hormozgan, which is on the Gulf, with a locally made "3 Khordad" missile.

 

A U.S. official said the drone was a Global Hawk that had been downed in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz, through which about a third of the world's seaborne oil exits the Gulf.. Earlier, a U.S. official had described the drone as Triton, a similar aircraft.

 

Navy Captain Bill Urban, a spokesman for the U.S. military's Central Command, said Iran's account that the drone had been flying over Iranian territory was false.

 

"This was an unprovoked attack on a U.S. surveillance asset in international airspace," Urban said.

 

Lieutenant General Joseph Guastella, the top U.S. Air Force commander in the Middle East, told reporters the drone was shot down at high altitude about 34 km (21 miles) from the nearest point of land on the Iranian coast.

 

Iran's foreign ministry said the drone had violated Iranian airspace and warned of the consequences of such "illegal and provocative" measures.

 

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter that the aircraft had taken off from the United Arab Emirates "in stealth mode & violated Iranian airspace."

 

Independent confirmation of the drone's location when it was brought down was not immediately available.

 

A Iranian Revolutionary Guards statement said the drone's identification transponder had been switched off "in violation of aviation rules and was moving in full secrecy" when it was downed,Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported.

 

IRANIAN 'RED LINE'

"Our airspace is our red line and Iran has always responded and will continue to respond strongly to any country that violates our airspace," Ali Shamkhani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, told Iran's Tasnim news agency.

 

The Global Hawk's manufacturer, Northrop Grumman Corp, says on its website that it can fly for over 24 hours at a time at altitudes higher than 10 miles (16 km).

 

Upping the ante in its dealings with Iran, Washington said on Monday it would deploy about 1,000 more troops, along with Patriot missiles and manned and unmanned surveillance aircraft, to the Middle East on top of a 1,500-troop increase announced after the May tanker attacks.

 

European diplomats have said more evidence is needed to pinpoint responsibility for the tanker strikes.

 

U.S. sanctions have hammered Iran's economy, scuttling its oil exports and barring it from the dollar-dominated global finance system. That undoes the promise of trade rewards from the 2015 deal to curb its nuclear ambitions.

 

Trump has sent forces including aircraft carriers, B-52 bombers and troops to the Middle East over the past few weeks. Iran said last week it was responsible for the security of the Strait of Hormuz, calling on American forces to leave the Gulf.

 

Tehran has also said it will shortly suspend compliance with the nuclear deal's curbs on its uranium enrichment, meant to block any pathway to nuclear weapons capability, and threatened to disrupt oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.

 

Senior officials from Iran, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia will meet on June 28 in Vienna to discuss ways to save the 2015 nuclear accord, the European Union said on Thursday.

 

(Reporting by Roberta Rampton, Phil Stewart and Parisa Hafezi; Additional reporting by Asma Alsharif and Stephen Kalin in Riyadh, Makini Brice, Doina Chiacu, Richard Cowan, Steve Holland and Jeff Mason in Washinigton and Robin Emmott in Brussels; Writing by Parisa Hafezi and Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Mark Heinrich, Alistair Bell and Peter Cooney)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-06-21

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[bristolboy]

Just because the Iranians immediately and explicitly took credit for it? Who knows maybe the flotilla will sail home. The Iranians will agree to a summit meeting. After which,  for no good reason whatsoever, Trump will claim great progress has been made and Iran is no longer a nuclear threat. And he will profess his love for Ayatollah Khameini. I know, I know. Such a thing couldn't happen in the real world.

[Tug]

Oh Donald is the light bulb finally going off when you realize that you pull out of a treaty that Iran was in compliance with and all of our allies(before you took office) agreed and supported you are starting to realize what your incompetence is bringing a war we’re the USA will be in the wrong guess when you try to strangle a country’s economy they might get a bit pissed off and with your track record with truth no one believes what you say tired of winning yet?

[ezzra]

Yes Mr. president, someone by mistake, while sipping his morning coffee, lean on the launch button that fired the missile that down your dron, Trump clearly is trying to avoid retaliation and confrontation  with Iran, but the Iranian will get bolder and bolder very soon, let's see how long will Trump can hold back... 

[OneMoreFarang]

Maybe the Iranians should reply that it's hard to believe why anybody voted for an idiot for president.

[Lucius verus]

Well done Iran! 

They punched the yanks in the face when they weren't expecting it and now Washington starts sulking.

Keep up the good work!

[wayned]

The coordinates supplied by Iran indicate that it was 9 miles off the coast when the missile was fired, within the 12 mile limit. If the missile firing was detected the drone could have turned it's tail and ran and when the missile actually struck it could have been over international waters.  If the drone was flying at 500 miles/hour the 3 miles would take less than about 20 seconds, so both could be right.

 

Also it might be a Bolton tactic to "bait" Iran  by just entering their airspace and see what would happen.  If they fired a missile, as they did, he would be jumping up and down claiming that Iran attacked first, now let's drop the MOAB on Tehran.  I wouldn't put it past him as he is a war monger that wants regime change in both Korea and Iran.

[canuckamuck]

9 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Maybe the Iranians should reply that it's hard to believe why anybody voted for an idiot for president.

Have you seen the guys the Iranians vote for?

[Emdog]

"It's hard to believe it was intentional, if you want to know the truth," It is something of a "tell" that Trump is lying when he uses phrase "If you want to know the truth"

In related news, Trump says attack on Pearl Harbor was just result of some Japanese admirals out for a lark

[wayned]

18 minutes ago, canuckamuck said:

Have you seen the guys the Iranians vote for?

No,, Most likely the real leaders faces are hidden under hijabs!

[Thailand]

I was going to say it is hard to believe that Trump said that but then of course it is Trump so say no more!

[CapraIbex]

1 hour ago, webfact said:

The United States, which called the event an "unprovoked attack"

Yeah right!

[Puchaiyank]

Trump has painted himself into a corner...Iran launched a rocket a few days ago but were unsuccessful in taking down the US drone...this time they succeeded...

 

Now Trump is certain it was a mistake by some military underling?  Iran has gladly taken responsibility...saying in affect...we don't believe the US has the will to take on Iran in a military conflict...

 

So what's it going to be?

[Ozman52]

If it was a mistake, i'm sure the Iranians will offer to pay for the lost drone. Not happening; I wonder why?

[wayned]

Unfortunately he has to respond in with a similar tactic with no loss of life or the US will look like fools that are just bluffing.  It will then be back in Iran's court to see what the next move will be.  Tightening sanctions or imposing huge tariffs won't work.

 

If Bolton had his way we would drop the MOAB on the headquarters in Tehran, and that would create a full on conflict with the pro Iranian groups throughout the region  responding with military action against all of our bases. .

Edited June 21, 2019 by wayned

[Chomper Higgot]

He now needs to admit removing the US support to the ‘Iran Deal’ was an mistake.

[Rawairat]

Drone -  a remote-controlled pilotless aircraft or missile.

 

No pilot Donald

[habanero]

1 minute ago, Chomper Higgot said:

He now needs to admit removing the US support to the ‘Iran Deal’ was an mistake.

Not a mistake and the U.S. had a total right to back out of the deal.

Iran violated the terms of the agreement by exceeding the limits on its stockpile of enriched uranium outlined in the deal that it signed in 2015. 

 If the rest of the world wants to believe Iran, that's their business. But, the U.S. knowing Iran's track record of violating just about anything they enter into, should have never entered into the agreement in the first place.

 If you believe Iran is living up to it's agreement, then you are all fools.

[zydeco]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

it could have been carried out by someone who was acting "loose and stupid,"

Trump should know. He's the expert at "loose and stupid."

[wayned]

3 minutes ago, habanero said:

Not a mistake and the U.S. had a total right to back out of the deal.

Iran violated the terms of the agreement by exceeding the limits on its stockpile of enriched uranium outlined in the deal that it signed in 2015. 

 If the rest of the world wants to believe Iran, that's their business. But, the U.S. knowing Iran's track record of violating just about anything they enter into, should have never entered into the agreement in the first place.

 If you believe Iran is living up to it's agreement, then you are all fools.

Untrue!  The on sight inspectors said that Iran was adhering to the terms and conditions of the agreement  when Trump pulled out.  They have only enriched and stockpiled more uranium since the US pulled out.  The pull put was only to fulfill a Trump campaign promise and a diversion since Mexico isn't paying for a 30' tall concrete wall!

[mercman24]

i see the TRUMP haters out in force today ha ha. at least he is looking after American interests as to immigration, not like the clowns in the UK and in fact most of Europe. just look at the photos coming from BONN the other day

[Silurian]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

"It's hard to believe it was intentional, if you want to know the truth," he added, saying it could have been carried out by someone who was acting "loose and stupid," and minimizing the incident as "a new wrinkle ... a new fly in the ointment."

 

Wow, the backbone changes to rubber fast! Typical of any bully.

 

[neeray]

2 hours ago, webfact said:

"I think probably Iran made a mistake - I would imagine it was a general or somebody that made a mistake in shooting that drone down,"

Hello! I hear an echo. This sounds awfully similar to Trump saying he didn't believe MbS had Khashoggi killed (remember, MbS said he didn't do it. Trump believed him). Or an echo of Trump supporting Vlad with that "would" and "wouldn't" nonsense at the summit, about meddling.

 

Donny, you're way in over your head on this one. Listen to your advisors, PLEASE.

[stevenl]

23 minutes ago, habanero said:

Not a mistake and the U.S. had a total right to back out of the deal.

Iran violated the terms of the agreement by exceeding the limits on its stockpile of enriched uranium outlined in the deal that it signed in 2015. 

 If the rest of the world wants to believe Iran, that's their business. But, the U.S. knowing Iran's track record of violating just about anything they enter into, should have never entered into the agreement in the first place.

 If you believe Iran is living up to it's agreement, then you are all fools.

Why oh why do you post lies like this?

[Tug]

24 minutes ago, habanero said:

Not a mistake and the U.S. had a total right to back out of the deal.

Iran violated the terms of the agreement by exceeding the limits on its stockpile of enriched uranium outlined in the deal that it signed in 2015. 

 If the rest of the world wants to believe Iran, that's their business. But, the U.S. knowing Iran's track record of violating just about anything they enter into, should have never entered into the agreement in the first place.

 If you believe Iran is living up to it's agreement, then you are all fools.

Ahhhh just so you know Iran was in compliance when Donald pulled the plug and now that man might get us in a war that the majority of Americans and the rest of the planet don’t want all because of feckless incompetence 

[Morch]

33 minutes ago, habanero said:

Not a mistake and the U.S. had a total right to back out of the deal.

Iran violated the terms of the agreement by exceeding the limits on its stockpile of enriched uranium outlined in the deal that it signed in 2015. 

 If the rest of the world wants to believe Iran, that's their business. But, the U.S. knowing Iran's track record of violating just about anything they enter into, should have never entered into the agreement in the first place.

 If you believe Iran is living up to it's agreement, then you are all fools.

 

Could you support this with anything credible? Reports seem to indicate otherwise.

[userabcd]

19 minutes ago, neeray said:

Hello! I hear an echo. This sounds awfully similar to Trump saying he didn't believe MbS had Khashoggi killed (remember, MbS said he didn't do it. Trump believed him). Or an echo of Trump supporting Vlad with that "would" and "wouldn't" nonsense at the summit, about meddling.

 

Donny, you're way in over your head on this one. Listen to your advisors, PLEASE.

The unfortunate thing is it is his advisors who are the root cause.

Edited June 21, 2019 by userabcd

[neeray]

2 minutes ago, userabcd said:

The unfortunate thing is it is his advisors who are the root cause.

A couple of them, maybe a few, but I doubt the majority.

[MRToMRT]

Can you imagine what the US would do if Iran flew a military spy drone in US airspace? 

 

 

[bristolboy]

Just now, userabcd said:

The unfortunate thing is it is his advisors who are the root cause.

The buck stops there.