I almost want to say "not The Onion", but it isThe Onion:

Same leakers spoke to WaPo: "Administration officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive national security decisions":

Trump's tweets Thurs. in chrono order:

9:58 am

10:14 am

10:15 am

1:49 pm

6:22 pm

AP breaking 1 hr. ago:

Same time Maggie Haberman tweets that they still don't know the reason it was called off:

David Ignatius @ WaPo June 20 at 4:56 PM, obviously before the White House leak was published about the cancelled attack:

Iran must escape the American chokehold before it becomes fatal

[....] Both nations tiptoed closer to the edge Thursday, as Iran shot down an RQ-4 Global Hawk drone near the Strait of Hormuz. Trump tweeted, “Iran made a very big mistake!” but the United States didn’t initially take any overt military action.

Here’s the danger ahead: Iran probably can’t break out of this squeeze play without creating a larger crisis that forces international intervention — perhaps an Iranian attack that kills Americans and triggers a harsh U.S. retaliation. The Trump administration doesn’t want such a war — at least, not yet — because officials know that with every day of sanctions, Iran becomes weaker.

But how does this end, if not in conflict? That’s the troubling question for strategists in Washington and abroad. The United States has offered negotiations (but not yet sanctions relief) through Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe; Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, spurned the offer. In accepting international mediation to end the Iraq-Iran War in 1988, Khamenei’s predecessor, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, may have drunk what he called “the cup of poison.” But Khamenei refuses, so far.

When we examine the inner logic of the confrontation, the surrounding events become more comprehensible. Each side appears to be behaving rationally, hoping to obtain its goals without the broad military conflict that neither wants. That’s mildly reassuring, but the danger of miscalculation remains huge. [....]

Iran summons Emirates’ top envoy over US drone incident

By A.P. @ NPR.org, Jun 22, 2019 12:27 PM EDT

TEHRAN, Iran — Iran summoned the United Arab Emirates’ top envoy to Tehran to protest the neighboring Arab nation’s decision to allow the U.S. to use a base there to launch a drone that Iran says entered its airspace, state media reported Saturday.

Iran issued a “strong protest” to the UAE diplomat, saying Iran does not tolerate the facilitation of foreign forces that violate its territory, the report by the official IRNA news agency said [....]