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Monday, July 14, 2025
Trump claims he briefly ordered cancellation of US strike on Iran in order to deceive Tehran
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleJacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
US President Donald Trump says he briefly ordered the cancellation of the US strike against Iran’s nuclear sites last month, in an attempt to deceive Tehran.
Speaking at a White House luncheon for faith leaders, Trump says he had been watching CNN shortly before the strike and claims that the network aired when the American military planes were to be entering Iranian airspace.
He recalls that he then phoned the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine and said, “Wouldn’t a surprise be better? Well, then let me cancel it and let’s make it at a different time.”
“Everyone knew it was being canceled. [But then] I said, let’s leave it the exact same time we were supposed to leave, the following day,” Trump says.
Trump: I watched horrible, horrible CNN. I saw that they had basically the plans of when we're going in, when we would be entering Iranian oil air space and I said, you know, that's weird.. I said, but wouldn't a surprise be better? Yeah, it would be better. I said, well, then… pic.twitter.com/2EiUcoZFla
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 14, 2025
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