Trump orders military strike on Iran, withdraws later: What we know so far

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1:45 pm - United Airlines suspends its New York-Mumbai flights due to tensions between the USA and Iran

1:02 pm - Here is the map of Persian Gulf region to understand where exactly the US drone was shot down by Iran.

The unmanned US drone was shot down by Iran on Thursday evening. It was shot down in airspace along Persian Gulf. While the US claims the drone was shot down while it was in international airspace, Iran maintains that it had violated Iranian airspace.

12:10 pm - USA bars flying of America-registered plane over Iran-registered airspace in Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.

The USA and Iran may have come back from the brink of an all out war. US President Donald Trump ordered aerial strikes on specific targets inside Iran. US fighter jets were in the air as well. However, the attack was called off at the last moment. The New York Times has reported these developments citing unnamed officials within the US government.

Bureaucrats and Congressmen were expecting an attack on Iran as late as Friday morning as per Indian time, according to New York Times.

This would have been A start of another major conflict in West Asia/Middle East after Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria.

What USA and Iran are saying now:

The White House has declined to comment on the development as of Friday morning. Earlier, Donald Trump had said that Iran made "a very big mistake" by downing an unmanned US drone which Iran said violated its airspace.

No major reaction has come from Iran so far although defiant comments have been made in the past by Iranian leaders.

Why is there tension between the US and Iran?

Tension prevails in the two country over 2015 nuclear deal from which the US has unilaterally withdrawn. Iran has since given signals that it will restart its nuclear program, something that USA is absolutely opposed to.

However, recent spike in tension between the country occurred after USA blamed Iran for explosions that  damaged oil tankers travelling through strait of Hormuz near Iran. 

Iran has denied the accusations.

A US drone was shot down by Iran on Thursday evening. Iran claimed that the drone was violating its airspace while Donald Trump insisited that it was on international waters.

Read | Donald Trump says Iran made 'very big mistake' by downing US drone