Trump orders US Navy to 'destroy' any Iranian gunboat that harasses American ships at sea

• President Donald Trump has ordered the US Navy to fire on and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats that harass American ships, he tweeted Wednesday morning.
• The order comes on the heels of an incident last week in which nearly a dozen Iranian attack boats harassed US Navy and Coast Guard vessels operating in the Persian Gulf.
• "The [Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy's] dangerous and provocative actions increased the risk of miscalculation and collision," the Navy said in a statement at the time.
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President Donald Trump tweeted Wednesday that he has ordered the US Navy to "destroy" any Iranian gunboat that harasses US ships.

The announcement follows an incident last week in which nearly a dozen Iranian attack boats sailed out to harass US Navy and Coast Guard vessels training in the Persian Gulf.

The US Navy said last Wednesday that 11 Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy boats "conducted dangerous and harassing approaches," repeatedly crossing the bows and sterns of the US ships — at one point closing within 10 yards of one of the cutters.

The crews of the US vessels issued multiple warnings over bridge-to-bridge radio and sounded their horns, but the Iranian boats did not respond for about an hour. After finally responding, the Iranian vessels moved away from the American ships.

"The IRGCN's dangerous and provocative actions increased the risk of miscalculation and collision," the US Navy said in a statement.

At the time of the incident, the Navy expeditionary mobile base vessel USS Lewis B. Puller, destroyer USS Paul Hamilton, and patrol ships USS Firebolt and USS Sirocco, together with the Coast Guard cutters USCGC Wrangell and USCGC Maui, were carrying out joint operations with Army AH-64E Apache attack helicopters in the Persian Gulf.

The US military has been experimenting with having Army helicopters take off from Navy ships to "enhance the capabilities of US forces to respond to surface threats," such as the gunboats Iran routinely sends out to harass both military and commercial vessels.