Trump Might Not Want War, but the Military Is Steering His Iran Policy

Updated at 1:03 p.m. ET on June 20, 2019.

Weeks of threats and counterthreats have culminated here: Iran shot down a U.S. surveillance drone overnight, marking the most serious escalation to date in the U.S.-Iran confrontation. The U.S. has been accusing Iran and its allies of repeated attacks against commercial shipping and U.S. allies and interests in Saudi Arabia and Iraq, but now, for the first time, Iran has claimed a direct attack on an American military target.

President Donald Trump responded on Twitter today with, “Iran made a very big mistake!” He sounded more conciliatory speaking with reporters later, when he speculated that someone “loose and stupid” must have screwed up somehow.

It’s been a little over a month since the U.S. kicked off a military buildup in the region in response to what officials called credible and imminent threats from Iran. On May 5, National Security Adviser John