President Donald Trump has ordered the American military to shoot and destroy any Iranian vessels that harass US navy ships, as tensions rise in the Gulf in the wake of a record collapse in crude oil prices.
“I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea,” Mr Trump wrote in a tweet on Wednesday morning, without providing any more detail about the order.
US Central Command, which overseas military operations in the Middle East, last week said it issued warnings to 11 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) ships that harassed US navy and coastguard ships in the Gulf.