The Pentagon’s top brass on Wednesday gave a strong endorsement to President Trump’s tweet purchasing the Navy to “shoot down and destroy” Iranian boats pestering U.S. vessels in the Persian Gulf.
Flying Force Gen. John Hyten, the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Pentagon rundown Wednesday he appreciated Mr. Trump’s message and stated the president’s intent was to highlight that any warship has the intrinsic right of self-defense.
” I like that the president alerted an adversary. That’s what he’s doing: He’s supplying a warning,” Gen. Hyten stated.
” If you desire to go down that course, we will come and we will come big.
Gen. Hyten and Deputy Defense Secretary David Norquist repeatedly declined to address whether Mr. Trump’s tweet, which came days after video revealing nearly a dozen Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps speedboats weaving dangerously around a U.S. Navy and Coast Guard ships in the Persian Gulf, was being formalized as an actual order altering the rules of engagement with the IRGC.
Mr. Norquist also described the president’s tweet a caution, and suggested it gave greater force to the authority U.S. leaders currently have in the intensifying fight with Iran.
SEE ALSO: New rules of engagement: Trump orders U.S. Navy to ‘ruin’ bothering Iranian gunboats.
” The president provided an alerting to the Iranians,” Norquist said. “What he was emphasizing is all of our ships retain the right of self-defense and individuals need to be extremely careful in their interactions to comprehend the fundamental right of self-defense.”
In the most recent occurrence recently, an IRGC vessel appeared to come within 10 backyards of an American ship. A qualified U.S. commander can discriminate between hostile and non-hostile actions from another vessel, Gen. Hyten stated Wednesday.
” If you encounter and you’re at a safe range and you’re waving– that’s one thing. If you have a gun and you point it at me, that’s another thing,” he stated. “We know what that line is [and] we will react. I believe the president’s message was crystal clear.”
