US President Donald Trump has called off a military strike against Iran in retaliation to the downing of an American military drone by Tehran.
According to reports, Trump called off the operation hours before it was to be launched.
Trump had initially approved attacks on several Iranian targets, such as radar and missile batteries, New York Times reported citing administration officials.
“Planes were in the air and ships were in position, but no missiles had been fired when word came to stand down,” the officials said.
The reason to abort the operation at the last moment is not yet known.
The US military confirmed on Thursday that an RQ-4A Global Hawk Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) was shot down by an Iranian surface-to-air missile system on Wednesday night.
Iran has said the drone was shot-down when it entered its airspace to carry out surveillance tasks.
But the Pentagon said that the drone was carrying out reconnaissance over international waters in the vicinity of civil air routes above the Gulf of Oman.
The shooting down of Global Hawk aircraft has further escalated already deteriorating tensions between the US and Iran.
It was the latest in a series of incidents in the Gulf region after the relationship between the two countries deteriorated following US President Donald Trump withdrawing from the nuclear agreement with Iran and European member countries.
Earlier this month, two oil tankers were hit in the Gulf of Oman, which the US had accused to be carried out by Iran. Donald Trump had also described Iran as a “nation of terror”.
“Iran did do it and you know they did it because you saw the boat,” Trump said. “They’re in deep, deep trouble,” he added.
According to reports, the tankers were struck in the same area where the US accused Iran of using naval mines to sabotage four other oil ships in an attack last month.
However, Iran has dismissed all allegations in the attack on the two oil tankers, calling them ‘baseless’.