US Military Destroys Two Iranian Boats Over Drone Seizure Attempt

The US military said on Tuesday that it destroyed two small Iranian boats this week after they tried to take control of an unmanned American vessel in waters off Iran.

Capt. Tim Hawkins, a US Central Command spokesman, said Iranian small boats had recently attempted to take possession of a US unmanned surface vessel but were unsuccessful after CENTCOM forcefully responded.

Hawkins identified the drone involved as a Saildrone, a small craft of roughly 25 feet (8 meters) that can operate by itself. CENTCOM has used such vessels in the region for several years to monitor maritime traffic, he said, adding that all of the command's surface drones remain fully accounted for. The military has long maintained that the technology on the Saildrones is commercially available and not sensitive.

Iranian state media reported on Monday that two fishing boats came under attack in Hormozgan province on Iran's southern coast, and that several fishermen were reported missing, citing a provincial official.

The incident is the latest exchange in a conflict now more than six months old, as both sides seek control over the Strait of Hormuz, a critical energy shipping corridor where the US has succeeded in recent weeks in loosening Iran's grip. The wider conflict has driven up oil and gasoline prices, creating political difficulties for President Donald Trump and his Republican Party.

The drone episode comes a week after Iranian state television reported that the country's navy had captured one of the US military's underwater drones at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz. Hawkins said at the time that an Anduril Dive-LD drone had malfunctioned while surveying regional waters and that the US military no longer had possession of it. He stressed that the drone was defective and described it as an older model that neither collected sensitive data nor carried classified sonar or radar equipment.