Trump Says He’s ‘In No Hurry’ to Confront Iran

President Trump on Friday said he had called off a retaliatory military strike on Iran just 10 minutes before its planned start after learning 150 people would be killed, saying such an action would have been disproportionate to Iran’s downing of an unmanned U.S. surveillance drone.

“We were cocked & loaded to retaliate last night on 3 different sights when I asked, how many will die,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter. “150 people, sir, was the answer from a General.”

The president said he was in “no hurry” to confront Iran but said Iran “can NEVER” have nuclear weapons.

The U.S. appeared to be edging closer to military confrontation throughout the day on Thursday as President Trump charged that Tehran had made “a very big mistake” in shooting down the unmanned drone.

Iran said Friday it had warned the U.S. spy drone to turn around before shooting it down, and that another spy plane with around 35 crew members was flying near the drone, but Iran chose not to target it.

The downing of the drone Thursday came after Iran said the drone had flown into Iranian airspace with transponders turned off. The commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Aerospace Force, Brig. Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, said Iran warned the drone four times, and that the drone would have transmitted the warnings to its “central stations.”

“The last warning by Iran’s air defense was given at 03:55 Thursday morning to the U.S. spy drone,” Mr. Hajizadeh said on state television. “Because they ignored our warnings, the U.S. drone was downed at 04:05.”

The U.S. has insisted the drone was in international airspace.