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Iran summons Swiss ambassador, threatens US warships over Trump tweet

Iran has summoned the Swiss ambassador in Tehran, who represents US interests, over recent escalations in the Gulf.
Commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Hossein Salami delivers a speech during the forty-day memorial, after the killing of Iran's Quds Force top commander Qassem Soleimani in a U.S. air strike at Baghdad Airport, at the Grand Mosalla in Tehran, Iran February 13, 2020. Nazanin Tabatabaee/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. - RC2VZE9E7IYQ

A day after US President Donald Trump threatened to “shoot down and destroy" Iranian vessels, the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps warned Thursday that his forces would destroy American warships if provoked. 

"I have ordered our naval forces to destroy any American terrorist force in the Persian Gulf that threatens [the] security of Iran's military or non-military ships," Maj. Gen. Hossein Salami said. "Security of the Persian Gulf is part of Iran's strategic priorities."

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