Comments on Fox News by Jack Keane, a retired four-star Army general, appear to have played a role in President Donald Trump's decision not to attack Iran after it downed a U.S. drone, Politico is reporting.
Trump had speculated on June 20 that the Iranian action might have been a mistake rather than an intentional provocation.
And Keane, later that day, told Fox News: "Our viewers may have forgotten, but during the tanker war in the late '80s when [President Ronald] Reagan did take some action, we actually made a mistake. We had a USS warship shoot down an Iranian airliner in Iranian airspace. Two hundred ninety people killed. Sixty-six of them were children. And we took that for a Tomahawk F-14. That was clearly a mistake by the ship's crew in doing that. And we acknowledged that we made a horrific mistake."
According to Politico's sources, Trump was "spooked" when he learned of that incident and made repeated comments about the tragedy on the evening of June 20. Aides believed that Keane's comments added to Trump's pre-existing concerns about carrying out a strike, Politico noted. However, they acknowledged it remains unclear just how big a role the comments ultimately played in Trump's decision.
After his election in 2016, Trump had called Keane "my number one guy," and offered him the secretary of defense job. Keane declined the offer. Trump later offered him the post again after Jim Mattis left, but Keane again declined.
Keane has often defended the president's policy while making appearances on television, Politico said.
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