WASHINGTON, June 21 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump said on Friday he was about to approve strikes against Iran for the downing of an unmanned U.S. drone, but didn’t like the idea of killing people in retaliation, according to an interview with NBC News.
Trump said he asked his generals how many people might die in the operation. “And they came back and said ‘Sir, approximately 150.’ And I thought about it for a second. I said, ‘You know what? They shot down an unmanned drone … and here we are sitting with 150 dead people.’ … And I didn’t like it. I didn’t think it was proportionate.”
(Reporting by Susan Heavey; writing by Doina Chiacu; editing by David Alexander)
