Trump approves strikes against Iran, then abruptly pulls back: NY Times
Tehran (KNA) - President Trump approved military strikes against Iran before dawn Friday but pulled back from launching them on Thursday night, the New York Times reports.
The paper cited military and diplomatic officials as saying that the US president had initially approved attacks on a handful of Iranian targets, like radar and missile batteries.
"The operation was underway in its early stages when it was called off," the Times said, citing what it called a senior administration official.
"Planes were in the air and ships were in position, but no missiles had been fired when word came to stand down," the official said.
The source said that US forces were woken up around 2 am local time "within the hour" of striking, then nothing happened. Plans to attack were said to have still been on by 6:30, even 7 pm EDT.
A Pentagon official told Newsweek that among the US' designated targets was the S-125 Neva/Pechora surface-to-air missile system and a Soviet system known to the NATO Western military alliance as SA-3 Goa.
Source: PressTV