Iran sent 'multiple messages' to let the US know its missile attacks had ended: report

Iranian officials really wanted the United States to know when Tuesday night's missile attack was over, according to a report from CNN.

The CNN story cited "a person familiar with the matter" who said that Iran tried to reach out through "at least three back channels," including Switzerland and other countries, in order to let U.S. officials know that the regime's retaliatory strikes had ended. The person claimed that there were "multiple messages and they were all the same."

The communications, CNN added, happened while American officials were trying to figure out the extent of the attack and come up with a proper response to it.

"Iran wanted to convey their retaliatory action had ended," the story said Wednesday, "and was waiting to see how the US would respond."

In addition to the reported back-channel communications Tuesday night, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also tweeted out a statement that that the country had concluded the action and was not looking for "escalation or war" but were acting in response to last week's U.S. airstrike that took out Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

The information follows on multiple reports that the U.S. had prior knowledge of the attacks thanks to our defense and intelligence systems.

In his Wednesday morning address regarding the strike, President Trump attributed to the lack of U.S. or Iraqi troop deaths to "the precautions taken, the dispersal of forces, and an early warning system that worked very well." During the same address, he also stated that the regime in Tehran "appears to be standing down" and announced harsher economic sanctions against the country until it "changes its behavior."