Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • rising tensions with Iran this morning, President Trump tweeted I've instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea.

  • Tweet came just half an hour after Fox News re aired this video today, released by the Pentagon last week, showing Iranian Revolutionary Guard boats coming within 10 yards of a U.

  • S ship in the Persian Gulf, the Pentagon calling it at the time unsafe and unprofessional.

  • But the president went much further to unpack.

  • Now what all this means we bring in a B C's.

  • Martha ran its.

  • So Martha.

  • Does President Trump's tweet indicate a change in the U.

  • S rules of engagement or wasn't simply a warning to Iran?

  • Well, it certainly was a warning.

  • I don't know whether it will change the rules of engagement.

  • I've been on those ships.

  • I've been in the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf and the way they do it now, or up until now, was they at the very most, they would fire warning shots, but they would start with a radio warning something over the loudspeakers to warn those boats when they come around which happens quite regularly.

  • The Pentagon had a press conference today.

  • I think the Pentagon had no idea this tweet was coming, but they happened to have scheduled a press conference.

  • The Thieve vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

  • And I think he handled it very well by simply saying this sends a clear message to Iran.

  • If they point a gun at us, we can essentially fire back.

  • But that's always been the case.

  • They can defend themselves and and what I've seen in the past is the Iranians are quite careful to keep the guns down.

  • So there's this clear message.

  • But will Iran risk whether or not those rules of engagement have changed in a way, by saying harassing us?

  • That leaves a lot of open space there.

  • I don't know that you can shoot someone if they harass you, so it's gonna be up to the captains of those ships to decide exactly what that means.

  • But my guess and an educated guess, I guess I would say Lindsay, is that the rules of engagement won't really change much unless the Iranians really, really push it.

  • And lastly, of course, the whole world is battling the Corona virus has that shared fight done anything to ease tensions at all with Iran?

  • It sure doesn't seem so, Lindsay.

  • In fact, today Iran launched a satellite into space.

  • It's actually their first successful launch, and they say satellite.

  • What the U.

  • S.

  • Thinks it is is cover to actually try to get an I C B M intercontinental ballistic missile.

  • So that really increases tensions now.

  • Interesting that President Trump didn't go after them for that today, instead talked about in his tweeter tweeted about the Iranian small boats.

  • But this has to be on his mind as well.

  • Although President Trump has offered help to Iran on the one hand with the Corona virus and they have been devastated by the Corona virus in Iran, it was one of the first countries toe really have an outbreak there, really, just after China in January.

  • I was actually there in earlier January, and just after I left, they started getting there their first cases over There s so on the one hand, President Trump is saying, you know, we'll help you out with the Corona virus.

  • On the other hand, he is saying, but if you point a gun at our boats will kill you.

  • Martha Raddatz, Thank you so much.

  • Martha.

  • Hi, everyone.

  • George Stephanopoulos Here.

  • Thanks for checking out the ABC News YouTube channel.

  • If you'd like to get more video show highlights and watch live event coverage, click on the right over here to subscribe to our channel.

  • And don't forget to download the ABC News after breaking news alerts.

  • Thanks for watching.

rising tensions with Iran this morning, President Trump tweeted I've instructed the United States Navy to shoot down and destroy any and all Iranian gunboats if they harass our ships at sea.

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it