Iran seized and later let go of US Navy sea drone

• Iranian ship attached a line to the drone and tried to tow it away.
• The vessel was only released when a U.S. Navy warship and helicopter approached.
• It was the first time Iran targeted the Navy’s Mideast-based drone task force.

Officials reported Tuesday that Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard had captured an American sea drone in the Persian Gulf and was attempting to drag it away before releasing the unmanned craft when a U.S. Navy destroyer and helicopter approached. Iran’s first attack against the newly established drone task group of the Navy’s 5th Fleet in the Middle East.

Even if there were no incidents during the intercept, tensions between Washington and Tehran are still high because of the uncertain future of the Islamic Republic’s shattered nuclear agreement with major powers.

According to Cmdr. Timothy Hawkins, a 5th Fleet spokesperson, the Guard’s Shahid Baziar destroyer connected a wire to the Saildrone Explorer in the middle of the Persian Gulf in international seas late Monday night. The Saildrone Explorer, which has cameras, radars, and sensors for remotely monitoring the water, was then being towed by the ship, according to Hawkins.

A Navy coastal patrol boat named the USS Thunderbolt and an MH-60 Seahawk helicopter moved to follow the Guard ship. According to Hawkins, the Navy radioed the Shahid Baziar to identify the drone as being American.

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The commander told The Associated Press, “Our answer was one that as such made plain that this was U.S. government property and was operating in international seas and that we had every intention to take action if required.”

Hawkins reported that after about four hours of fighting, the Iranians released the drone’s tow line and left the area as American soldiers were nearing. Videos that the Navy made public showed the Iranian ship pulling the drone while the Thunderbolt pursued. Central Command commander U.S. Army Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla commended the Thunderbolt crew for their quick action.

In a statement, he added that the incident “demonstrates Iran’s persistent destabilising, unlawful and unprofessional actions in the Middle East.”

Early on Wednesday, the semiofficial Tasnim news agency in Iran, which is thought to be loyal to the Guard, said without offering any proof that the drone presented a threat to international trade. Tasnim confirmed that the Guard let the ship go, but she attempted to characterise the American account as “a Hollywood narrative and untrue.”

Last year, the unmanned Task Force 59 of the 5th Fleet was established. The strategic Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf’s tiny entrance through which 20% of the world’s oil passes, is part of the jurisdiction of the Fifth Fleet.

It also extends as far as the Red Sea, which is close to Egypt’s Suez Canal, which connects the Middle East to the Mediterranean, and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which is off Yemen.

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