I meant to write this piece last week, but was sidetracked by President Donald Trump’s threats to Greenland and his derision for allies who lost soldiers fighting alongside the United States in Afghanistan.

Put simply, I want to recognize that it was idiotic of me to strongly suggest that a U.S. military attack on Iran was imminent on Jan. 14. I did so in an X post referencing flight tracking data that showed numerous U.S. Air Force refueling aircraft simultaneously departing Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar. Alongside the closure of Iranian airspace, the shuttering of Western embassies in Tehran, and other suggestions from a source, I took this flight data to suggest that a strike was imminent. The Air Force would surge refueling aircraft in the event of major military strikes or would relocate those aircraft away from Al Udeid to reduce their vulnerability to Iranian retaliation.