President Donald Trump on Thursday night reportedly approved a military strike against Iran after it shot down an American drone in international airspace — and with planes in the air and ships in position, the strike was reportedly pulled back at the last minute.

And see the president’s tweets on this issue shortly after 9 a.m. on Friday morning:

President Obama made a desperate and terrible deal with Iran – Gave them 150 Billion Dollars plus I.8 Billion Dollars in CASH! Iran was in big trouble and he bailed them out. Gave them a free path to Nuclear Weapons, and SOON. Instead of saying thank you, Iran yelled…..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 21, 2019

The news of the pullback of the airstrikes is confirmation, to me, of my hypothesis that everything we’ve seen about America’s response to Iran in the last few weeks is aimed at getting the regime to the table to negotiate.

Nobody rattles its sabers like the U.S.A. — because nobody has sabers as big as ours.

Related: Trump’s Ominous Message: Iran Made a Very Big Mistake

The media and the Democrats — and I repeat myself there — are already hammering Trump for being a coward (after spending all day on Thursday hammering him for “escalating” the conflict).

Check out this information from a HuffPost report:

“President Donald Trump authorized U.S. military strikes against Iran on Thursday, but officials abruptly pulled back from carrying them out just hours later, The New York Times reported.”

“U.S. military assets, including planes and ships, were in position during the early stages of the strike, ready to target several Iranian assets, the Times, citing senior administration officials, said. But those plans were called off before any missiles were fired. ABC News later corroborated the reports … The newspaper noted that it’s unclear if the scaling back of the plans reflected a change in opinion by the president or if there was a shift in strategy that necessitated they be delayed. It’s also unclear if they will go forward in the future.” (source: HuffPost) 

Trump was showing the world at large, especially Russia and China, that just because they support Iran does not mean Iran gets to do whatever it wants.

Trump called off the strikes at the last possible second to show the Iranian regime that unlike with Obama, his “red lines” are worth more than a bunch of talking. Secondly, Trump did this tactically because the Left was fully expecting him to strike — which they could then use as a negative-publicity and anti-Trump stunt. His last-second pulling away has shown he’s willing to negotiate; he took the entire narrative away from the mainstream media.

Finally, Trump was showing the world at large, especially Russia and China, that just because they support Iran does not mean Iran gets to do whatever it wants.

Related: China May Be Coming Around on Trade, Finally

Navy Capt. Bill Urban, U.S. Central Command spokesman, said in a statement: “CENTCOM confirms that a U.S. Navy drone was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile system while operating in international airspace over the Strait of Hormuz at approximately 11:35 p.m. GMT on June 19, 2019. Iranian reports that the aircraft was over Iran are false. This was an unprovoked attack on a U.S. surveillance asset in international airspace.”

Iranian reports that the aircraft was over Iran are false.
This was an unprovoked attack on a U.S. surveillance asset in international airspace. "

– Attributable to Navy Capt. Bill Urban, U.S. Central Command spokesman

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) June 20, 2019

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said, “In light of the targeting of an unmanned U.S. drone by Iran, it is essential that we remain fully engaged with our allies, recognize that we are not dealing with a responsible adversary and do everything in our power to de-escalate,” she said.

“This is a dangerous, high-tension situation that requires a strong, smart, and strategic, not reckless, approach,” she also said.

This is a dangerous, high-tension situation that requires a strong, smart and strategic, not reckless, approach.

— Nancy Pelosi (@SpeakerPelosi) June 20, 2019

This piece originally appeared in WayneDupree.com and is used by permission; it has been updated. 

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