Esper appeared to contradict the president on Sunday, when he said he had not seen evidence that Iran was planning attacks on four American embassies.
On Friday, Trump told Fox News,"I can reveal that I believe it probably would've been four embassies," referring to the supposedly imminent threat posed by Soleimani.
"What I'm saying is I share the president's view that probably—my expectation was they were going to go after our embassies," Esper added."The embassies are the most prominent display of American presence in a country." But hours after the attacks, Iran's anti-aircraft defense forces accidentally shot down a civilian airlines outside Tehran, killing all 176 people aboard. Iranian authorities initially blamed technical failure for the incident, but later admitted its forces were at fault.
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