Trump has spoken about the US strike on an Iranian warship near Sri Lanka, saying he questioned why Washington sank the ship, killing dozens of crew members, Al Jazeera reports.

“I said, Why the hell did we kill them? Why did we just capture them and use them in our Navy?” Trump has said at a rally in Hebron, Kentucky.

“They said they wouldn’t have qualified for that. But I got a little upset with my people. I said, Why do we have to knock him? And actually, one of my generals said, ‘Sir, it’s a lot more fun,’” the US president adds

Trump also appears to refer to Iranian attacks on ships in or near the Strait of Hormuz, saying “they knocked out 54 ships in two days, and they’re real ships.”