Washington, April 22 (IANS) US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said that he had instructed the Navy to destroy any Iranian gunboats if they harass US 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," Trump tweeted in the morning, without providing other details, Xinhua news agency reported.

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

The Guard and the US Navy routinely have tense encounters in the Persian Gulf and its narrow mouth, the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 per cent of all oil passes.

--IANS sdr/bg