Iran SEIZES two US Navy maritime drones, then RETURNS them, in the second conflict in 12 days. After meeting in the Red Sea, tensions escalate.
Thursday, Iran captured two U.S. Navy maritime drones in the Red Sea near Yemen.
Later, when American warships closed in on an Iranian vessel, they were freed.
Iranian state television showed sailors inspecting two Saildrone Explorers.
They were presumably thrown overboard as American battleships approached.
It follows a similar event in the Persian Gulf.
And last week, American soldiers and Iranian-backed troops in Syria traded fire.
By Associated Press and Rob Crilly, Dailymail.com’s senior political reporter
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Iran said on Friday that it had returned two U.S. sea drones it had taken in the Red Sea after the latest maritime confrontation involving the U.S. Navy’s new waterborne drone fleet.
The confrontation is the most recent reminder of tensions between the United States and Iran, after firefights between American soldiers and Iranian-backed forces in Syria and as the two countries near a new nuclear agreement.
Iranian official media aired images from the deck of its Jamaran destroyer, as claimed.
It depicted sailors wearing lifejackets inspecting what seemed to be two Saildrone Explorers.
One could be seen being thrown overboard, with another cruiser seen in the distance.
Thursday, state television said that the Iranian military discovered three unmanned surveillance boats abandoned in international waters.
Jamaran detained the two boats after issuing two warnings to an American warship to avert any accidents, according to official television.
After safeguarding the international waterway for transportation, Naval Squadron No. 84 released the boats in a secure location.
In this image issued by the U.S. Navy on February 9, 2022, a Saildrone Explorer unmanned sea drone sails in the Gulf of Aqaba. Iran said on Friday that its navy had captured two American maritime drones.
In this still from Iranian official television, Iranian naval personnel toss an American marine drone overboard in the Red Sea, with another vessel seen in the background.
It said, ‘The U.S. Navy was advised not to repeat such occurrences in the future.’
Before the military issued a formal announcement, a U.S. defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss the situation, identified the captured drones as Saildrone Explorers.
These drones are commercially accessible and are employed to monitor open waterways by a range of clientele, including scientists.
According to the official, two American warships and Navy helicopters reacted to the situation in the Red Sea. They radioed the Iranian warship and followed it until it released the drones on Friday morning, according to an official.
The Iranian sailors first attempted to conceal the drones with tarps and denied possession, the official said, adding that the drones are now in U.S. custody.
This is the second occurrence of this kind in recent days, as talks on a nuclear agreement between Iran and global powers hang in the balance.
The previous incident happened in the Persian Gulf and featured Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, not its regular navy. The Guard towed a Saildrone Explorer before releasing it as a U.S. cruiser followed in its wake. Iran had condemned the U.S. Navy for broadcasting a ‘Hollywood’-style film of the event, but did the same thing in the Red Sea incident on Friday.
Last year, the 5th Fleet deployed its unmanned Task Force 59.
Navy drones include ultra-endurance airborne surveillance drones, surface ships such as the Sea Hawk and the Sea Hunter, and torpedo-like, smaller underwater drones.
The 5th Fleet is responsible for the vital Strait of Hormuz, the small opening of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of the world’s oil travels. It also extends as far as the Red Sea reaches to the Suez Canal, the Egyptian canal that connects to the Mediterranean, and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait off Yemen.
Tuesday, the U.S. Navy published a photograph of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard ship Shahid Bazair towing a U.S. Navy Saildrone Explorer in the Persian Gulf.
In recent years, a number of marine assaults have occurred in the area.
During Yemen’s protracted civil conflict, bomb-laden drone boats and mines sent adrift by Houthi militants have destroyed vessels in the Red Sea.
Near the United Arab Emirates and the Strait of Hormuz, Iranian military have captured oil ships. Others have been assaulted in events that the Navy attributes to Iran.
These strikes occurred around one year after then-President Donald Trump’s 2018 decision to unilaterally withdraw from Iran’s nuclear agreement, in which sanctions were eased in return for Tehran significantly restricting its uranium enrichment.
Negotiations to restart the agreement are still in limbo. Friday, the United States expressed skepticism on Iran’s most recent written answer to the negotiations.
Iran enriches uranium closer than ever before to weapons-grade levels, with officials openly speculating that Tehran might construct a nuclear weapon if it so desired.
Iran has claimed that its nuclear program is peaceful, despite claims by Western governments and international inspectors that Tehran maintained a nuclear weapons program until 2003.