War-averse Trump looks for off ramp with Iran

President Donald Trump “really wants to avoid a war,” former Trump National Security Council official Fred Fleitz said.
U.S. President Donald Trump arrives flanked by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) and U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton (R) for the annual meeting of the Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons annual meeting at the White House in Washington, U.S., October 11, 2018. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst - RC1E9B59B7C0
US President Donald Trump arrives flanked by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (L) and US national security adviser John Bolton (R) for the annual meeting of the Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons annual meeting at the White House in Washington, US, Oct. 11, 2018. - REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
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Laura Rozen
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WASHINGTON — Echoing his predecessor Barack Obama even as he mocked him, President Donald Trump said today that he changed his mind at the last minute about taking retaliatory military strikes on three Iran sites deemed connected to the Iranian downing of an unmanned US surveillance drone June 20.

“We were cocked and loaded to retaliate last night on three different sights when I asked, how many will die. 150 people, sir, was the answer from a General. 10 minutes before the strike I stopped it,” Trump tweeted today.

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