President Trump says that he had not given the final go ahead for an Iranian attack when he called off a strike on Thursday night.
He told NBC's Chuck Todd in a Friday interview that airs in full on Sunday morning on 'Meet the Press' that the planes were still on the ground when he called the whole thing off.
'Nothing is greenlighted until the very end, because things to do near jfk airport change,' Trump said.
'We had something ready to go, subject to my approval.'
He said he asked the critical question that caused him to hold back of a military general a half hour before the aircraft was due to take off.
'No, were about ready to go.
No, but they would have been pretty soon,' he said. 'And things would have happened to a point where we wouldn't turn back, couldn't turn back.'
He said he asked how many people would be killed. 'Approximately 150,' the unidentified general told him.
Trump said the number gave him pause, considering Iran shot down an unmanned drone.
'And here we are sitting with 150 people dead people that would have taken place, probably within a half hour, after I said go ahead.
And I didn't like it. I didn't think it was proportionate,' he said.
President Trump says that he had not given the final go ahead for an Iranian attack when he called off a strike on Thursday night
Trump said Friday morning in a tweet that he was ready to attack three Iranian sites on Thursday night but he called off the strikes after learning the assault would kill an estimated 150 people.
'We were cocked & loaded to retaliate last night on 3 different sights when I asked, how many will die.
150 people, sir, was the answer from a General. 10 minutes before the strike I stopped it,' he said in tweets, 'not proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone.'
He said, 'I am in no hurry, our Military is rebuilt, new, and ready to go, by far the best in the world.
Sanctions are biting & more added last night. Iran can NEVER have Nuclear Weapons, not against the USA, and not against the WORLD!'
In an interview with CNN's The Situation Room, Senate Foreign Relations Chairman James Risch described Trump as a president who 'doesn't want to go to war.'
'I really watched him agonize over this.
It comes down to one man,' Risch said.
House Armed Services Chairman Adam Smith added that he observed Trump 'really wrestling' over the decision.
However at the White House, a senior administration official suggested that Trump over ruled his senior advisers and military leaders.
'There was complete unanimity amongst the President's advisors and DOD leadership on an appropriate response to Iran's activities.
The President made the final decision,' the official said, in response to a question about the decision to levy sanctions.
Those aides include Iran hawk John Bolton, Trump's national security advisor; Mike Pompeo, the secretary of state who had been seen as more doveish than Bolton; and CIA director Gina Haspel.
Iran claimed that it had received a warning via the Gulf state of Oman that an attack was imminent and that Trump wanted to talk to Tehran directly.
There was no confirmation of that claim from the U.S.