The head of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said the country would “destroy” American warships that threaten its presence in the Gulf.
Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami told Iranian state television on Thursday that the fighting force would take out any U.S. warship it believes threatened the “security” of Iranian naval vessels, according to Reuters.
“I have ordered our naval forces to destroy any American terrorist force in the Persian Gulf that threatens security of Iran’s military or nonmilitary ships,” Salami said. “Security of the Persian Gulf is part of Iran’s strategic priorities.”
“I am telling the Americans that we are absolutely determined and serious in defending our national security, our water borders, our shipping safety, and our security forces, and we will respond decisively to any sabotage,” he added. “Americans have experienced our power in the past and must learn from it.”
One day earlier, President Trump said he instructed the Navy to “destroy” Iranian gunboats that “harass” the military at sea, while later saying the rules of engagement remain unchanged.
“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 on Wednesday.
The U.S. Naval Forces Central Command said that 11 Iranian vessels performed “dangerous and harassing approaches” to U.S. ships last week, which prompted the president’s warning.
Iran attacked Iraqi air bases housing U.S. personnel in early January after the United States killed top Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the corps’s elite Quds Force who was thought to be responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Americans in Iraq. American officials said Soleimani was planning future attacks that posed a threat to U.S. national security.
“Soleimani was actively planning new attacks, and he was looking very seriously at our embassies, and not just the embassy in Baghdad,” Trump said at the time.
