Trump’s claim that the Pentagon alerted him in advance is false

• Trump’s campaign adviser, in his view, said the Pentagon told him in advance that the missile strike on Iran would happen.
• According to the Pentagon, the delay was due to a technical issue; the administration of Trump’s team later said the Pentagon had not been informed in advance.
• CSIS says that, with the Patriot and THAAD systems, it is technically possible to detect an incoming missile attack.

President Donald Trump, citing information from the Pentagon, said that the military had warned him in advance about the strike on Iran—so that he could know why the missiles were launched. The Washington Post.

According to the report, Trump said to the Pentagon that it was possible that the US could have prevented the attacks. In response, the Pentagon said that it was not true, and that the Pentagon had not been informed in advance.

Materials also show that the Trump administration had previously denied the claim. The president’s blog post, commenting on the publication, claimed that it was “100% fake news,” adding that “Literally never happened. And President Trump has the utmost confidence in Secretary Hegseth.”

Meanwhile, a senior Pentagon official, whom The Washington Post reports, said that Hegseth was not aware of the strike before it happened, and also added that the administration’s claim was false.

Parallels in the material are drawn with an analysis by the Center for Strategic and International Studies: the report notes that the US had 2,330 Patriot systems and 452 Terminal High Altitude Area Defense systems. In addition, the report says that, given the conditions, it was possible to intercept 759–827 Patriot missiles and 234–278 THAAD missiles.

According to the analysis, the Pentagon’s claim that the US was not able to intercept the missiles is not supported. The report states that, in the event of a launch, the systems could have been activated in time, and the US could have intercepted most of the missiles.

Tags: USA/Middle East/Politics/Economy