President Trump said Wednesday that he has instructed the U.S. Navy to “shoot down and destroy” Iranian vessels that harass American ships at sea.
“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 president did not reference any specific incident, but his tweet follows a tense encounter between Iranian and U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf last week. The U.S. military said that 11 Iranian ships repeatedly made “dangerous and harassing approaches” of U.S. Navy and Coast Guard vessels in the Persian Gulf on Wednesday. Continue reading.