https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/i...gulf-6r6mfl779
Iran threatens to strike US ‘terrorist’ ships as tensions rise in the Gulf
The commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps vowed today to destroy any US warships that threaten its security in the Gulf, raising the stakes still further in the increasingly volatile region. Major-General Hossein Salami said that the Iranian navy had been “ordered to hit any military ship of the US terrorist army that tries to endanger the security of the Iranian military or civilian vessels”.
He made the announcement this morning during a visit to the Hormuz Strait, which is bordered by Iran on one side and the Arabian peninsula on the other, and is just 21 nautical miles across at its narrowest point.
Hours earlier,
Mr Trump tweeted that he had “instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea”; a response to an incident last week in which Iranian gunboats harassed several US navy and Coast Guard vessels in the strait........
The US does not have an embassy in Iran, but the Swiss ambassador, who acts as Washington’s representative, was summoned to the Iranian foreign ministry today. State media reported that he was told to pass on a message that Tehran would “strongly defend” its rights at sea......