Donald Trump
Donald TrumpReuters

The US carried out a cyber attack on Thursday night, just after Iran downed an American surveillance drone, The Washington Post reported.

According to the Post, the targets were computers and systems responsible for missile attacks. The attacks were planned for weeks, if not months, but proposed only after the attack on two oil tankers earlier this month.

The White House and US Cyber Command refused the Post's request for comment, but Pentagon spokeswoman Elissa Smith said, "As a matter of policy and for operational security, we do not discuss cyberspace operations, intelligence or planning."

On Thursday, The New York Times reported that US President Donald Trump approved military strikes against Iran in retaliation for downing an American surveillance drone, but pulled back from launching them.

"We were cocked and loaded to retaliate last night on 3 different sights when I asked, 'how many will die?' '150 people, sir,' was the answer from a general. 10 minutes before the strike I stopped it, [it was] not proportionate to shooting down an unmanned drone," Trump tweeted Friday.