As bellicose rhetoric between the US and Iran mounts, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez urged Team Trump to “put down its saber.”
“This administration needs to put down its saber and pick up a phone. Diplomacy is what grants us peace and stability – not war,” AOC tweeted late Thursday.
The freshman Democrat’s statement came at the end of a day of high drama that followed Iran’s downing of a sophisticated US drone — with Tehran claiming the aircraft violated Iranian airspace, while Washington insisted it was in international territory.
After declaring that “Iran made a very big mistake,” President Trump reportedly ordered a missile strike against the Islamic Republic, but abruptly called it off hours later.
US planes were already airborne and warships were poised for action as late as Thursday evening before Trump pulled the plug on the mission, according to the New York Times.
Tensions flared between the two countries after repeated attacks on oil tankers near the Strait of Hormuz, for which the US has blamed Iran.
Iranian officials have denied any involvement in the strikes against the ships, but have admitted shooting down the American RQ-4A Global Hawk drone.
Despite Ocasio-Cortez’s call to give diplomacy a chance, Iran’s Supreme Leader Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei didn’t sound in the mood to talk to Trump days ago.
“I do not see Trump as worthy of any message exchange,” Khamenei told Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was in Tehran delivering a message from the American prsident.
“And I do not have any reply for him, now or in the future,” he added.