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Bloomberg
President Donald Trump said he’s ordered the US Navy to destroy any Iranian gun boats that harass American ships at sea.
Trump issued the warning “to shoot down and destroy†the ships in a tweet on Wednesday. It comes after 11 gunboats from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps crossed the bows and sterns of American ships at close range last week.
US Central Command called the Iranian maneuvers “dangerous and provocative actions†in a statement, and said at the time that American commanders on the scene “retain the inherent right to act in self-defense.â€
The US military vessels were conducting joint integration operations in the international waters of the Persian Gulf when the Iranian ships harassed them, Central Command said. The Iranian ships came within a 50-yard point of approach with the USS Lewis B. Puller and within 10 yards of the bow of the Coast Guard cutter Maui, according to the statement. Iran has disrupted shipping routes in the Gulf and used asymmetrical warfare to undermine American interests across the Middle East, though rarely does it target US ships directly.
Trump’s comments could mark another flare up of tensions between the US and Tehran. Going back to the Obama administration, Revolutionary Guard members in small but agile speedboats have harassed US ships.