“Whatever happened, it is terrible,” Trump said during his daily press briefing at the White House. “They don’t really know what happened. I don’t think anybody can say right now, we’re looking into it very strongly.”

The president’s comments contradict ones he made on Tuesday when he said top U.S. military commanders had informed him that the explosion in the Lebanese capital was likely caused by a bomb.

“I’ve met with some of our great generals and they just seem to feel that this was not some kind of manufacturing explosion type of an event,” Trump said Tuesday. “They seem to think it was an attack. It was a bomb of some kind.”

PHOTOS: HUGE EXPLOSIONS ROCK BEIRUT WITH WIDESPREAD DAMAGE, INJURIES

From the outset, however, U.S. officials have said that they did not know the cause of the initial fire and explosions that set off the larger blast. But they said they do believe the reports out of Lebanon claiming a large stockpile of ammonium nitrate left over from a seizure is what exploded.

Officials on Wednesday couldn’t identify any “generals” who delivered any such Beirut message to the president. And while none would comment publicly, some noted that defense and intelligence officials didn’t have enough information about the explosion to make any statement about the cause on Tuesday evening.