WASHINGTON — President Trump denied reports Friday that Arab and Israeli leaders persuaded him not to strike Iran in response to this week’s slaughter of anti-government protesters.
“Nobody convinced me — I convinced myself,” Trump told reporters as he departed the White House Friday.
“You had, yesterday, scheduled, over 800 hangings. They didn’t hang anyone. They canceled the hangings. That had a big impact.”
Trump made the remarks shortly after posting on social media: “I greatly respect the fact that all scheduled hangings, which were to take place yesterday (Over 800 of them), have been cancelled by the leadership of Iran. Thank you!”
An Agence France-Presse report published Thursday quoted a Saudi official claiming credit for pivoting Trump away from a military strike for fear of destabilizing the region, saying Qatar and Oman also made that argument.
The New York Times cited an unnamed US official in reporting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also requested that Trump delay a possible strike to allow the Jewish state time to beef up its defensive capabilities.
Trump warned Jan. 2 that the US was “locked and loaded and ready to go” if the clerical government “violently kills peaceful protesters,” which it then did to stomp out two weeks of nationwide rallies sparked by economic concerns.
Images from Iran show large makeshift morgues and activist groups estimate tens of thousands were killed in major cities across the nation.
Trump on Tuesday called on Iranians to “TAKE OVER YOUR INSTITUTIONS!!!” and promised “HELP IS ON ITS WAY” — before stunningly changing his tune Wednesday and saying that “the other side” assured him that “the killing in Iran is stopping. It’s stopped.”
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The president’s intentions remain murky.
Trump’s bombing of Iran’s nuclear program last June featured elaborate public deceptions. The White House said at the time that Trump would decide what to do “within the next two weeks,” but two days later, the US leveled three key nuclear sites.
The Pentagon currently is moving the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and its strike group from the South China Sea toward the Middle East, a process which could take a week — but that too could be a headfake concerning timing of a possible strike.
Last June, a fleet of B-2 bombers was tracked flying west from their Missouri base for what was expected to be a lengthy trip to an airbase in the Indian Ocean ahead of a possible bombing mission.
As all attention focused on that squadron, a separate and unnoticed eastbound B-2 cohort dropped its payload.
Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have led planning meetings since last Friday focused on possible military action and only a very small group of high-ranking officials is believed to know Trump’s actual plans.
