Iran Ratchets Up Warnings to U.S. Over Tensions in Persian Gulf
Iran Says U.S. Action in Gulf Will Be Met With Swift Response
(Bloomberg) -- Iran vowed to target any U.S. military vessel that tries to endanger Iranian ships in the Persian Gulf, ramping up new frictions touched off by a hostile encounter at sea last week.
“If any vessel or any military unit of the terrorist forces of America seek to put the security of any of our military or non-military vessels in danger, that unit or vessel will be targeted,” Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commander General Hossein Salami warned on Thursday. His comments to state TV were published by the corps’ official news website, Sepah News.
Salami issued his threat a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said he’d ordered the U.S. Navy to destroy any Iranian gunboats that harass American ships. A week earlier, the Pentagon accused Iran of “dangerously” doing just that, but Salami reiterated Iran’s claim that American vessels approached its ships in an “unprofessional” manner.
Tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalated dramatically after Trump abandoned the multipower nuclear deal with Iran in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic. Actions by both sides, at times in the Gulf, have brought them to the brink of military confrontation on multiple occasions, most recently with the U.S. assassination of Iran’s top general Qassem Soleimani on Jan. 3.
The coronavirus outbreak that’s gripped both countries hasn’t eased hostilities.
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