Tucker Higgins and Amanda Macias
CNBCWed, 22 Apr 2020 15:26 UTC
© Nazanin Tabatabaee | WANA | ReutersA boat of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard at undisclosed location off the coast of Bandar Abbas, Iran
President Donald Trump warned on Wednesday that the United States would destroy Iranian gunboats that harass American ships at sea.
The threat, which contributed to a recovery in oil prices, came days after the Pentagon claimed that ships from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy took "dangerous and provocative" actions near U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships in the Persian Gulf. "I have instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea," the president wrote in a post on Twitter.
West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, rose more than than 30% on Wednesday after slumping to historic lows this year as the coronavirus pandemic crushed demand. Iran
produced 3% of the world's oil last year.
Six U.S. military vessels were conducting training operations in international waters last week when 11 Iranian ships "crossed the bows and sterns of the U.S. vessels at extremely close range and high speeds," according to the April 15 U.S. Navy statement. At one point, the Iranian ships came within 10 yards of the Coast Guard cutter Maui's bow.The U.S. crews issued multiple warnings via bridge-to-bridge radio, five short blasts from the ships' horns and long-range acoustic noise devices to the Iranian ships."After approximately one hour, the IRGCN vessels responded to the bridge-to-bridge radio queries, then maneuvered away from the U.S. ships and opened distance between them," the statement added.
Hours after the incident, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the administration was evaluating a response.
"We've seen this before, where the Iranians behave in ways that were inconsistent with international law," Pompeo said.
He said the U.S. was "evaluating how best to respond and communicate our displeasure with what took place."
The latest tension comes months after the U.S. and Iran appeared to take a step back from the brink of war.
In January, the U.S. killed Iran's Gen. Qasem Soleimani, a top official in the country who the U.S. accused of orchestrating attacks on Americans.
Iran retaliated with attacks on two bases housing U.S. forces in Iraq. There were no fatalities from the strikes, but more than 100 troops have since been diagnosed with
brain injuries inflicted during the attack.
Comment: Iran has answered with equivalent
saber rattling:
Iran will not hesitate to retaliate against the US Navy if it attacks any Iranian vessel, Tehran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) commander has warned, responding to a similar threat by Trump.
"I have ordered our naval forces to destroy any American naval force in the Persian Gulf that threatens the security of Iran's military or non-military ships," Major-General Hossein Salami said on Thursday, as cited by Tasnim News Agency.
Salami was responding to US President Donald Trump, who said that he had issued an order on Wednesday to "destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea."
Last week, the US Navy accused Iranian warships of maneuvering in a "dangerous and provocative" manner near its own vessels in the Persian Gulf. Tehran rejected these claims, saying its patrol boats had to intercept and monitor the American ships because they were violating maritime protocols while navigating in the area.
The Swiss ambassador to Iran was
summoned to deliver Iran's message to the US:
Iran's Foreign Ministry has summoned the Swiss ambassador, who represents the US interests in the country in the absence of an American diplomatic mission, to lodge a protest against the most recent US threats against the Islamic Republic.
"He [the diplomat] was given a note for the US authorities with Iran's decisive protest against the threats of the US forces, including their illegal presence and actions, destabilisation of the naval navigation in the north of the Persian Gulf and next to Iran's coast", Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said.
The ministry said that Iran strongly opposes all threats made by US President Donald Trump in his tweet on 22 April and will respond to any threats to the country.
Iran, in its message conveyed via the Swiss ambassador, also advised Trump to focus on fighting the coronavirus pandemic right now because the US remains the leader in terms of the number of cases worldwide. Tehran additionally suggested that the American military would be of more use in helping Washington deal with the epidemic rather than patrolling the Gulf.
Give this guy a Nobel Peace Prize! Why should he be left out when Obama got one and he turned out to be a bigger war monger and fifth-columnist that Trump will ever be.
The U.S. can be so unfair...