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Trump Says Iran Appears To Be 'Standing Down.' What Does That Mean?

WAMU 88.5

Published January 9, 2020 at 10:06 AM EST

President Donald Trump addresses the Iranian missile attacks that took place last night in Iraq and said, “as long as I am president of the United States, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon."

Is the U.S. going to war with Iran?

After ballistic missiles struck Iraqi airbases holding American troops on Wednesday morning, President Donald Trump said that Iran appeared to be standing down. But the president called on NATO to become more involved in the conflict and announced a new sanctions campaign.

Helene Cooper and Eric Schmitt wrote in The New York Times, :

After storming to the edge of a cliff this week, early indications suggest that the United States and Iran apparently have decided they do not want to jump, at least not yet.

With initial battle assessments indicating that no Americans were killed in Iranian strikes on two military bases in Iraq on Tuesday, President Trump may not feel the punch-back-or-lose-face pressure he would have confronted with high troop casualties.

We unpack the latest developments.

Produced by Kathryn Fink.

GUESTS

Nancy Youssef, National security reporter, The Wall Street Journal; @nancyayoussef

Suzanne Maloney, Senior fellow, Center for Middle East Policy, Brookings Institution; former advisor, State Department; @MaloneySuzanne

Tim Kaine, U.S. Senator, D-VA; @timkaine

For more, visit https://the1a.org.