Pentagon Tries to Defuse Trump’s Order to ‘Shoot Down Iranian Gunboats’

Defense Officials Express Agreement with President's Warning to Iran

(Source: US Department of Defense; issued April 22, 2020)

Defense Department officials are in full agreement with President Donald J. Trump's warning to the Iranian regime on Twitter, senior Pentagon officials said today.

"The president issued an important warning to the Iranians," Deputy Defense Secretary David L. Norquist said during a Pentagon news conference today. "What he was emphasizing is all of our ships retain the right of self-defense, and people need to be very careful in their interactions to understand the inherent right of self-defense."

I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 22, 2020

The president tweeted, "I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea."

The Iranian regime has a history of harassing U.S. vessels operating in the Persian Gulf. In the past, small, quick Iranian boats have charged at U.S. ships in international waters.

The president's tweet does not signal a new policy, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said, as U.S. forces in any environment retain the right to defend themselves. "Every ship that deploys in harm's way has the inherent right of self-defense," Air Force Gen. John E. Hyten told reporters. "What that means is if we see a hostile act, if we see hostile intent, we have the right to respond, up to and including lethal force."

Hyten warned Iran that, if threatened, U.S. commanders "will respond with overwhelming lethal force."

Norquist said Trump was responding to Iran's poor behavior. "He is emphasizing and warning them about the challenges of what they will create," the deputy secretary said. "I think it was a very useful thing that he put out, and I think it's an important thing for other people to understand and take very seriously."

Hyten emphasized that he thinks it is a good thing that the president warned an adversary. He said that if the Iranians want to go down that path, "we will come, and we will come large."

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Trump Orders Navy to Destroy Iranian Gunboats that Harass U.S. Ships

(Source: Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty; issued April 22, 2020)

U.S. President Donald Trump says he has ordered the Navy to attack and destroy any Iranian vessel that harasses U.S. ships after Iranian ships appeared to harass U.S. vessels last week in the Persian Gulf.

“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 said in a tweet posted on April 22.

The order comes a week after a U.S. Navy video showed small Iranian gunboats coming close to U.S. warships as they operated in the northern Persian Gulf near Kuwait.

The U.S. Navy said its ships were in international waters carrying out exercises at the time of the incidents on April 15. It said 11 vessels of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) made “dangerous and harassing approaches” toward the U.S. ships.

Trump did not cite a specific event or provide any further details in his tweet.

When asked about Trump’s tweet during a press conference, U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist said: "The president issued an important warning to the Iranians. What he was emphasizing is all of our ships retain the right of self-defense.”

Air Force General John Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said during the same briefing that “the commanders have the authority right now to respond to any hostile act or hostile intent."

A spokesman for Iran's military said in response that the United States should “focus on saving its armed forces from the coronavirus,” according to the semiofficial news agency ISNA.

After last week's incident the IRGC accused the United States of giving a false account of the encounter, issuing a statement accusing the U.S. Navy of "unprofessional and provocative behavior" and warning the Americans that any "miscalculation will receive a decisive response."

Close interactions with Iranian military vessels have occurred in the region in the past, drawing warning shots from U.S. Navy ships when Iranian vessels venture too close.

Tensions between Iran and the United States increased in January after the United States killed Iranian Quds Force commander Qasem Soleimani in a drone strike in Iraq.

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