Trump Calls off Airstrike After Realizing 150 Iranian Deaths “Not Proportionate” to Loss of Unmanned Drone

On Thursday night, the Iranian military shot down an unmanned U.S. surveillance drone that was violating Iran’s airspace. At the loss of the (again, unmanned) drone, Trump was prepared to launch an airstrike in retaliation, choosing to abandon the decision at the last minute after discovering that this decision would result in the deaths of 150 civilians.

Despite this supposedly humanitarian aim, Trump still gloated about the American military, forgetting that the institution has killed countless more innocents than 150 civilians. He also patted himself on the back for deeming that killing 150 individuals was “not proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone.”

According to the New York Times, a high-ranking official noted that Trump enjoyed the “command” of issuing the airstrike. The benevolent totalitarian apparently liked calling it off, too.

The Trump administration disputes the claim that the drone was violating Iranian airspace. In response to this, Iranian officials released video evidence that the drone was infringing on the no-fly zone, and also claimed that they chose not to shoot down a second American aircraft with 35 passengers that was also infringing on the territory. The opposing claims seem to be a result of differing opinions as to where exactly the drone was shot down.

Instead of outright killing the Iranians, Trump chose to do what any neoliberal leader would: starve them of capital via increased sanctions. The equally bloodthirsty Secretary of State Mike Pompeo purportedly wanted a pinpoint airstrike, but noted that the long-term effects of the sanctions would have the same, if not greater, impact on Iran.

Still, it looks more likely every day that we’ll be headed to war with Iran. You can’t help but wonder how many lives Trump will claim he’s saved whenever that happens.