Trump aides 'surprised' after he favored claims from 'the other side' over US intel

U.S. President Donald Trump walks after delivering an address to the nation at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S. June 21, 2025, following U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/Pool

Officials in Donald Trump's administration expressed concern this week after the president appeared to favor claims from "the other side" over US intelligence when opting against a military strike against Iran, CNN reported Thursday evening.

For several weeks, Iran has been embroiled in massive nationwide protests in response to the country's recent economic collapse, with citizens calling for an end to the regime of Ayatollah Alia Khamenei. Following an internet blackout, concerns mounted across the globe that the Iranian government was violently cracking down on protestors, with some estimates claiming that as many as 20,000 people had been killed.

Despite controversies about his own government's use of violence against citizens, Trump has issued several public threats against Iran, warning of potential military strikes if the regime attacked innocent protestors. According to CNN's extensive report, Trump was briefed on the purportedly planned execution of 26-year-old protestor, Erfan Soltani, on Tuesday, and by Wednesday morning, "appeared closer than he had been previously to calling for a limited military operation."

By Thursday, however, Trump had seemingly reversed course, prompting "a degree of surprise" among senior administration officials when he claimed that "very important sources on the other side" had informed him that the killing and executions had ceased, and that no action by the US military was imminent.

“We were told that the killing in Iran is stopping, and there’s no plan for executions,” Trump said in a statement from the Oval Office. “The killing has stopped. The executions have stopped.”

As administration sources made clear to CNN, however, US intelligence had no such indication that the killings had stopped in Iran.

"At that point, US intelligence reporting had not indicated Iran stopped killing protestors," the report explained. "Many still believed military strikes were likely, and precautionary steps had already been taken to evacuate non-essential personnel from the largest US airbase in the region."

Amid the confusion, some officials speculated that Trump's comments were an attempt at misdirection, citing his "noncommittal public statements" about the prospect of a military strike against Iran over the summer, prior to airstrikes being carried out against nuclear facilities. Some top US allies, meanwhile, have been working "to forestall military action" in Iran, and Trump, according to CNN, "appeared receptive to the arguments."

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