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Iran Guards chief vows ‘decisive response’ to US Gulf threat
TEHRAN, April 23, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Iran’s Revolutionary Guards chief
on Thursday warned the US of a “decisive response” after President
Donald Trump said he instructed the US Navy to “shoot down” Iranian
boats that harass American ships in the Gulf.
“We declare to the Americans that we are absolutely determined and
serious… and that all action will be met with a decisive response
that will be efficient and quick,” Major General Hossein Salami told
state television.
“We have also ordered our naval units to target (US boats and
forces) if they try to endanger the safety of our ships or boats of
war.”
Tensions between decades-old foes the United States and Iran
escalated again last week with Washington accusing its arch enemy of
harassing its ships in the Gulf.
Trump took to Twitter on Wednesday after Iran’s Revolutionary
Guards said they had launched the Islamic republic’s first military
satellite.
The US president said he had “instructed the United States Navy to
shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our
ships at sea”.
Salami said last week’s maritime incident was the result of
“unprofessional and dangerous behaviour by the Americans in the
Persian Gulf”.
The Guards commander also indicated that US actions in the
sensitive waterway had been hampered by an outbreak of the novel
coronavirus.
“In last week’s incident, there was operational turmoil and
disorder among US naval units at sea,” said Salami.
This, he added, was an indication that the “command and control of
their military units may have been weakened by… the coronavirus
disease.”
Iran and the United States are among the countries hardest hit by
the coronavirus pandemic.
BSS/AFP/MRU/1830hrs