Iranian Vessels Will Be Destroyed if They Harass US Navy at Sea, Trump Says
The warning followed the latest encounter in which a group of armed Iranian speedboats came dangerously close to US Navy shipsIsraelDefense |
Photo: AP
US President Donald Trump on April 22 warned that the US will take action against Iranian naval speedboats that surround and repeatedly cross in front of and behind US Navy ships at close range, as they did a week earlier in the northern Persian Gulf.
"I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea," Trump said in a Twitter posting.
Tensions have grown between Washington and Tehran during the last few months. Earlier in the day, Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps claimed that it had successfully launched a military satellite into space for the first time. The Guard's top naval officer was quoted as saying on April 20 that the force has upgraded the range of its surface-to-surface and subsurface anti-warship missiles to 700 kilometers.
Meanwhile, at a press briefing at the Pentagon on April 22, Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist said "The President issued an important warning to the Iranians, what he was emphasizing is all of our ships retain the right of self-defense."
At the same briefing, Air Force General John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said "Nobody should doubt that the commanders have the authority right now to respond to any hostile act or hostile intent."
Later in the day, in comments to reporters at the White House, Trump said, "We don’t want their gunboats surrounding our boats, and traveling around our boats and having a good time," adding "We're not going to stand for it….They'll shoot them out of the water."
