TEHRAN, Iran (AP) – The leader of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard warned on Thursday that he has ordered his forces to potentially target the U.S. Navy after President Donald Trump’s tweet the previous day threatening to sink Iranian vessels.
Iran also summoned the Swiss ambassador, who looks out for America’s interests in the country, to complain about Trump’s threat coming amid months of escalating tensions between the two countries.
While the coronavirus pandemic temporarily paused those tensions, Iran has since begun pushing back against the Trump administration’s maximum pressure policy both militarily and diplomatically. The Guard on Wednesday launched Iran’s first military satellite, unveiling a previously secret space program.
Speaking to state television Thursday, Guard Gen. Hossein Salami warned that his forces “will answer any action by a decisive, effective and quick counteraction.”
“We have ordered our naval units at sea that if any warships or military units from the naval force of America’s terrorist army wants to jeopardize our commercial vessels or our combat vessels, they must target those (American) warships or naval units,” Salami said.