The Trump administration reportedly does not want to pursue more military engagement with Iran, according to a White House official who spoke to CNN. This comes after Iran launched some missiles at US bases in the Middle East on Monday.
According to the outlet, a senior White House official said the president is not wanting to escalate the conflict.
This comes after Iran launched several missiles at US bases in Qatar, but no casualties or injuries were reported. “We knew they’d retaliate. They had a similar response after Soleimani,” the official said in reference to when the US assassinated Qasem Soleimani during the first Trump administration.
After the strikes from Iran on Monday, there were no casualties reported. A Department of Defense official said of the missile strikes from Iran in Qatar, “I can confirm that al Udeid Air Base was attacked by short-range and medium-range, ballistic missiles originating from Iran today at this time there are no reports of US casualties."
The New York Times also reported that there were three Iranian officials who described the strikes as a "similar strategy to 2020 when Iran gave Iraq heads up before firing ballistic missiles an American base in Iraq following the assassination of its top general."
Reports on Monday also indicated that the US knew about the threat of missile strikes from Iran after Trump ordered to have bombs dropped on Iran's nuclear facilities in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. Fordow was struck by 12 bunker busting bombs dropped by US bombers, the bombs do not explode on impact, but after they enter deep into the ground.
The Fordow facility was buried deep inside a mountain and was the one of the key sites of Iran's uranium enrichment operations. Following the strikes on Iran, Trump posted on Truth Social responding to media outlets saying that the US' operation in Iran did not destroy the nuclear sites.
"The sites that we hit in Iran were totally destroyed, and everyone knows it. Only the Fake News would say anything different in order to try and demean, as much as possible — And even they say they were 'pretty well destroyed!' Working especially hard on this falsehood is Allison Cooper of Fake News CNN, Dumb Brian L. Roberts, Chairman of 'Con' cast, Jonny Karl of ABC Fake News, and always, the Losers of, again, Concast’s NBC Fake News," Trump wrote.