Trump tells Navy to destroy Iranian gunboats if they ‘harass’ American ships
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President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had instructed the U.S. Navy to fire on any Iranian ships that harass it at sea, but said later he was not changing the military’s rules of engagement.
Close interactions with Iranian military vessels were not uncommon in 2016 and 2017. On several occasions, U.S. Navy ships fired warning shots at Iranian vessels when they got too close.
“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 wrote in a tweet, hours after Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps said it had launched the country’s first military satellite into orbit.
While the Navy has the authority to act in self-defense, Trump’s comments appeared to go further and were likely to stoke tensions between Iran and the United States.
Senior Pentagon officials said that President Donald Trump’s comments on Iran were meant as a warning to Tehran but suggested that the U.S. military would continue to abide by their existing right to self defense instead of any changes to their rules.
“The President issued an important warning to the Iranians, what he was emphasizing is all of our ships retain the right of self-defense,” Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist told reporters at the Pentagon.
During the same briefing Air Force General John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that he liked the President’s warning.
“Nobody should doubt, that the commanders have the authority right now to respond to any hostile act or hostile intent,” Hyten said.
