Trump says US will destroy Iranian gunboats harassing US ships

[Conil]

I wish they did blow them out of the water. I doubt the Iranians will do it again.


US President Donald Trump tweeted on Wednesday morning that he had told the United States Navy to "shoot down and destroy" Iranian gunboats that "harass" US ships.

"I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea," Trump tweeted.
Trump did not cite a specific event in his tweet or provide details.

He said later on Wednesday that US Navy ships would shoot Iranian gunboats that get too close "out of the water".

"We're not going to stand for it. If they do that that's putting our ships in danger and our great crews and sailors in danger - I'm not going to let that happen. And we will - they'll shoot them out of the water," he said during a White House briefing. "That's a threat. When they get that close to our boat, and they have guns, they have very substantial weapons on those boats, but we'll shoot them out of the water."

Senior Pentagon officials said Trump's comments were meant as a warning to Tehran but suggested that the US military would continue to abide by their existing right to self defence instead of changing their rules.

"The president issued an important warning to the Iranians, what he was emphasising is all of our ships retain the right of self-defence," Deputy Secretary of Defense David Norquist told reporters at the Pentagon.

Following Trump's tweet, an Iranian armed forces spokesman said the US should focus on saving its military from the coronavirus.

“Today, instead of bullying others, the Americans should put all their efforts toward saving those members of their forces who are infected with coronavirus,” Abolfazl Shekarchi said, according to Iran's semi-official ISNA news agency.

Trump's comments on Wednesday came about a week after 11 vessels from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps Navy came close to US ships.

On Sunday, the Revolutionary Guard acknowledged it had a tense encounter last week with US warships in the Gulf, but alleged without offering evidence that US forces sparked the incident.

Iranian and US vessels routinely have tense encounters in the Gulf and its narrow mouth, the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of the world's oil passes.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020...gunboats-harassing-ships-200422124226286.html

 

[nottyboi]

So you support cold blooded murder... not surprising at all. The US sinks a 100K gunboat and kills 5 and an Iranian sub puts 2 torpedos into a 1B Aegis destroyer killing dozens of American sailors.

 

[Conil]

So you support cold blooded murder... not surprising at all. The US sinks a 100K gunboat and kills 5 and an Iranian sub puts 2 torpedos into a 1B Aegis destroyer killing dozens of American sailors.

The Iranians did this many times, not the first time. This last time they had 11 gunboats harass US ships. Here you go on your usual rant that the Yankees are evil and the Iranian dictators, that have murdered thousands of their own are ok. Not the first time you go on like this, you and frank are the only few that defend these butchers.

 

[Frankfooter]

The Trump Administration Is Suddenly Pretending That It Didn’t Blow Up the Iran Nuclear Deal

According to the New York Times, Pompeo is making a legal argument that the United States is still a “participant” in the Iran nuclear deal. As such, he is saying, Trump will soon invoke a clause in the deal, known as the “snapback clause,” which requires the U.N. Security Council to reimpose economic sanctions if Iran is found to be cheating. Since, by its own admission, Iran has violated some aspects of the deal in recent months, the sanctions will automatically be reimposed once Trump raises the transgressions.

Pompeo’s argument is bogus on several counts. First, given Trump’s formal withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, it is preposterous to claim that the United States is still a participant. Or, if Trump wants to claim he is a participant, he first has to lift the sanctions he reimposed two years ago. He can’t embrace one part of an accord while rejecting all the other parts.


Second, since last summer, Iran has amassed a somewhat larger nuclear stockpile and enriched more uranium than the deal allows, but it did so in response to Trump’s withdrawal from the deal and his success at pressuring other signatories to restore sanctions. Ironically, Iran’s move was fully consistent with the terms of the nuclear deal—specifically with Paragraph 36, which states that if one signatory believes that the others “were not meeting their commitments,” then, after certain meetings and consultations, it would have “grounds to cease performing its commitments.” (Iranian diplomats tried to dissuade the European signatories from restoring sanctions for a full year before expanding its nuclear program.) In other words, technically, Iran is still acting under the terms of the deal. Its diplomats say that, if the U.S. and the other nations lifted the sanctions once again, Iran would scale back its stockpile and enrichment.

 

[Boober69]

It's unfortunate that the world needs to babysit Iran for fear of them developing nuclear weapons and using them.

 

[nottyboi]

The Iranians did this many times, not the first time. This last time they had 11 gunboats harass US ships. Here you go on your usual rant that the Yankees are evil and the Iranian dictators, that have murdered thousands of their own are ok. Not the first time you go on like this, you and frank are the only few that defend these butchers.

It does not matter who is evil or not. The guys on the boats are soldiers. Killing someone for inconveniencing you is murder. What do you think the US ships are there for? They are there to intimidate.

 

[nottyboi]

It's unfortunate that the world needs to babysit Iran for fear of them developing nuclear weapons and using them.

With how the US has acted, at this point I really do not see many choices for Iran other then to develop nukes.But the regime there is a POS, and evil. The poor Iranians have to live with such repression.

 

[onthebottom]

With no one buying oil and the soft date and rug markets I think they have larger problems than US warships.

 

[Goodoer]

With how the US has acted, at this point I really do not see many choices for Iran other then to develop nukes.But the regime there is a POS, and evil. The poor Iranians have to live with such repression.

Maybe I'm forgetting History, but did the USA fuck Iran decades ago which resulted in the clerical regime taking over? Did the USA not support Iraq which lead to Saddam Hussein? Did the USA not support the Taliban in their fight against the Soviets? Did the USA not support Syrian militants which turned into ISIS?

 

[Frankfooter]

Maybe I'm forgetting History, but did the USA fuck Iran decades ago which resulted in the clerical regime taking over? Did the USA not support Iraq which lead to Saddam Hussein? Did the USA not support the Taliban in their fight against the Soviets? Did the USA not support Syrian militants which turned into ISIS?

The CIA and the brits backed the 1953 revolution in Iran which over threw a democratic government and replaced it with religious fundamentalists.
The US got pissed that Iran was talking about nationalizing their oil.

 

[Insidious Von]

The CIA and the brits backed the 1953 revolution in Iran which over threw a democratic government and replaced it with religious fundamentalists.
The US got pissed that Iran was talking about nationalizing their oil.

Dumbest coup ever, the Americans had Iran in their back pocket after Stalin gave up his attempt to create Greater Azerbaijan at the Yalta Conference. They reinstalled The Shah who crushed all opposition sending Ayatollah Khomeini into exile. The Iranians wanted to nationalize their oil industry, it would have been a short term dent to the Americans and the British - and a massive long term gain. The elected leader Mohammad Mossaddegh was even in favour of keeping The Shah as a figurehead in a constitutional monarchy - he died in prison.

 

[Liminal]

With no one buying oil and the soft date and rug markets I think they have larger problems than US warships.

With 60,000 dead, over 1 million infected and a President who thinks you can inject disinfectants, the US has larger problems than Iranian gunboats operating off of their own coast.