Things escalated quickly over the last 24 hours with Iran. The New York Times reports:

President Trump approved military strikes against Iran in retaliation for downing an American surveillance drone, but pulled back from launching them on Thursday night after a day of escalating tensions.

As late as 7 p.m., military and diplomatic officials were expecting a strike, after intense discussions and debate at the White House among the president’s top national security officials and congressional leaders, according to multiple senior administration officials involved in or briefed on the deliberations.

https://twitter.com/TimOBrien/status/1142031767911710721

The Washington Post adds:

“Iranian officials told the Reuters news agency Friday that Tehran received a message from Trump through Oman overnight warning that a U.S. attack was imminent.” 

“It was not immediately clear why Trump decided to pull back the operation or what it would have included.”

Some people suggest that Fox News’ Tucker Carlson may have influenced Trump’s decision to retreat. The Daily Beast writes:

A source familiar with the conversations told The Daily Beast that, in recent weeks, the Fox News host has privately advised Trump against taking military action against Iran. And a senior administration official said that during the president’s recent conversations with the Fox primetime host, Carlson has bashed the more “hawkish members” of his administration.

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) writes, “Donald Trump promised to bring our troops home. Instead he has pulled out of a deal that was working and instigated another unnecessary conflict. There is no justification for further escalating this crisis—we need to step back from the brink of war.”

MSNBC’s Ali Velshi spoke with one of the writers who broke the story for the Times. Watch above.