I trust Trump about as far as I can throw him, and at the end of the day it's really the Pentagon calling the shots here not the POTUS.
But dudes clearly speaking to a public sentiment here.
They were before just 5 seconds for starting it for real, then they backed off and killed Soleimani as consolation prize for all the hawks. They were sure Iran wouldn't actively plunge into war over one general after narrowly avoiding at least full scale aerial terror if not outright invasion.