Defense Trump warns that Iran 'made a very big mistake' The White House is inviting congressional leaders to a Situation Room briefing on Iran on Thursday afternoon.

President Donald Trump warned Thursday that Iran "made a very big mistake" after its military claimed responsibility for shooting down an American drone, but appeared to suggest the incident would not immediately result in an armed conflict following a week of steadily escalating tensions.

"You're going to find out. They made a very big mistake," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office ahead of a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, adding that "it would have made a big, big difference" if U.S. military personnel were victims in such an attack.


"I find it hard to believe it was intentional, if you want to know the truth. I think that it could have been somebody who was loose and stupid that did it," the president said, describing the assault as "a new wrinkle" and "a new fly in the ointment."

"Let's see what happens," he said. "It's all going to work out."

Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed it destroyed the drone because it violated Iranian airspace, and Gen. Hossein Salami, the Guard's commander, said in a televised address Thursday that "we are fully ready for war," according to the AP.

But the U.S. military has asserted that the unmanned aircraft was taken down in "an unprovoked attack on a U.S. surveillance asset" over international airspace above the Strait of Hormuz.

"This attack is an attempt to disrupt our ability to monitor the area following recent threats to international shipping and the free flow of commerce," Lt. Gen. Joseph Guastella, commander of the U.S. Air Force Central Command, told reporters at the Pentagon in a phone briefing Thursday afternoon.

“This dangerous and escalatory attack was irresponsible, and occurred in the vicinity of established air corridors between Dubai, UAE and Muscat, Oman — possibly endangering innocent civilians," Guastella added.

The White House is inviting congressional leaders to a Situation Room briefing on Iran on Thursday afternoon, according to three people familiar with the matter.

An MQ-1B Predator remotely piloted aircraft flies past a MQ-9 Reaper RPA as it taxis during a training mission at Creech Air Force Base in Indian Springs, Nevada. | Isaac Brekken/Getty Images

Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) are expected to attend that meeting, as are the Armed Service Committee and Intelligence Committee chairmen and ranking members, though Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, will be unable to appear. Rank-and-file members received their own briefing earlier on Thursday.

"Here's what Iran needs to get ready for: Severe pain inside their country," Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told reporters Thursday on Capitol Hill, warning that if Tehran is "itching for a fight, they're going to get one."

Asked about the potential for a military conflict, Graham said the U.S. is "a lot closer today than we were yesterday, and only God knows what tomorrow brings." He also suggested the likelihood of American intervention in the region would greatly increase if Israel launches its own campaign against Tehran.

"If they go back into the enrichment business that puts them on an accelerated path to a bomb, and Israel has to defend itself against an existential threat, I am confident we will be there," Graham said.

"I'm confident if there's a war with Iran, they lose," he added. "I'm confident it would be very devastating to the region, would not be pretty, don't want to go there."

House Minority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) said Iran's attack on the American drone put lawmakers and administration officials "in a position where we now have to look at wider options to respond."

"I think it's important for us to stand up to Iran and to make it clear that we're not going to allow them to attack America or American allies," he said.

House Foreign Affairs Committe Chairman Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.) described the drone shoot-down as "another belligerent act" by Iran, but urged the White House to run "any response" to the attack past lawmakers for approval.

"I would hope that the administration would choose not to go down this path alone, but that they would work with the Congress and also work with our allies," Engel said, adding: "I'm hoping that we're consulting with them. I assume we are."

The strike follows explosions on two oil tankers last week in the Gulf of Oman, which the Trump administration has blamed Tehran for perpetrating. A U.S. Navy official said Wednesday that a limpet mine used in the attack on one of the tankers, the Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous, bore a striking resemblance to similar Iranian explosive devices, according to the AP.

Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami insisted Wednesday that Tehran was not behind the tanker attacks, declaring that "the accusation against Iran is totally a lie and I dismiss it firmly," according to the semi-official Fars news agency and the AP.

The Pentagon on Monday announced the deployment of 1,000 additional troops to the Middle East "for defensive purposes to address air, naval, and ground-based threats” in the region, acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said in a statement.

But Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, insisted Wednesday that “there will not be a military confrontation” between his country and the U.S., while Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeted later in the day that Trump “does not want war” with the Islamic Republic.

Heather Caygle, John Bresnahan and Andrew Desiderio contributed to this report.