Wait, what just happened in Iran?

| 3:01 pm EDT August 30, 2019
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For months, Donald Trump has been trying to provoke a conflict with Iran, so he can use it as a 2020 campaign issue. The thing is, Iran doesn’t seem to want the conflict, and has sought to maintain positive relations with U.S. allies even as Trump ramps up his antics. Now Trump has posted a tweet about Iran that has everyone asking questions about what just happened.

Donald Trump posted this tweet: “The United States of America was not involved in the catastrophic accident during final launch preparations for the Safir SLV Launch at Semnan Launch Site One in Iran. I wish Iran best wishes and good luck in determining what happened at Site One.” This led everyone to ask the same two questions.

First, what accident? Trump appeared to be breaking news that the major news outlets hadn’t yet reported. Second, why did Trump (and/or his handlers) feel compelled to announce that the United States was not involved in the accident? Was he afraid that everyone would just assume he bombed an Iranian rocket launch?

When smaller countries try to get missile programs off the ground, these kinds of failures and accidents are fairly common. This accident in Iran doesn’t initially appear to be suspicious on its face. The only thing that makes it suspicious is Donald Trump’s reaction, which makes it sound like he’s trying to cover something up, even though it’s probably just him being stupid.