DONALD TRUMP has admitted that he was prepared to launch a missile strike at Iran in response to an American military drone being shot down over international waters, but backed down at the last minute when his generals told him how many people would be killed.
Trump didn’t have any issues with verbally attacking the nation, however, as he took to Twitter - such is his trademark - to launch his latest tirade and went into detail about how close he was to pressing the big red button, as it were.
The President said that he was “cocked and loaded” and ready to fire at three different Iranian sites in response to the drone shooting, but once he was informed that 150 people would be killed, Trump decided against a launch.
“On Monday they [Iran] shot down an unmanned drone flying in international waters,” Trump tweeted.
“We were cocked and loaded to retaliate last night on 3 different sites 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 went on to explain that he felt 150 lives weren’t proportionate to shooting down a drone, but insisted that his military “by far the best in the world” before adding that “Iran can NEVER have Nuclear Weapons.”
Iran denies that the drone which was shot down was flying in international waters and instead claims it was shot down over Iranian airspace.
Tensions continue to rise between the two nations and Russia has accused the United States of pushing the situation to the brink of war.
Trump had previously accused President Obama of agreeing a “desperate and terrible deal” with Iran which gave them $150 billion and, in his words, “gave them a free path to nuclear weapons.”
He also claimed that by cancelled that deal he’d left Iran “bust”.
In an interview with NBC on Friday, Trump said that he'd be willing to have talks with Iran and added that those talks would have "no preconditions."
