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| © U.S. Navy via AP Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessels sail close to U.S. military ships in the Persian Gulf near Kuwait on April 15. |
By Lara Seligman, POLITICO
President Donald Trump abruptly tweeted early today that he has directed the Navy to fire upon Iranian "gunboats" hassling U.S. ships at sea in a new sign of heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran.
"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 tweeted.
The tweet comes one week after the Navy announced that 11 Iranian vessels had conducted "dangerous and harassing" approaches of U.S. ships in the international waters of the northern Persian Gulf, coming as close as 10 yards to a Coast Guard cutter.
"The IRGCN's dangerous and provocative actions increased the risk of miscalculation and collision, were not in accordance," with international regulations, the Navy said at the time. The statement referred the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Navy.
The incident was the first provocative exchange between the two nations since early March, when U.S. and coalition aircraft struck Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia group locations in Iraq in retaliation for the deaths of two U.S. troops in a rocket attack a day earlier.
See more at POLITICO
President Donald Trump abruptly tweeted early today that he has directed the Navy to fire upon Iranian "gunboats" hassling U.S. ships at sea in a new sign of heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran.
"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 tweeted.
The tweet comes one week after the Navy announced that 11 Iranian vessels had conducted "dangerous and harassing" approaches of U.S. ships in the international waters of the northern Persian Gulf, coming as close as 10 yards to a Coast Guard cutter.
"The IRGCN's dangerous and provocative actions increased the risk of miscalculation and collision, were not in accordance," with international regulations, the Navy said at the time. The statement referred the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Navy.
The incident was the first provocative exchange between the two nations since early March, when U.S. and coalition aircraft struck Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah militia group locations in Iraq in retaliation for the deaths of two U.S. troops in a rocket attack a day earlier.
See more at POLITICO
