US Navy prevents Iranian attempt to capture American maritime drone in Persian Gulf

[Scott]

By Ellie Kaufman and Barbara Starr, CNN

Updated 12:11 AM ET, Wed August 31, 2022

 

Screenshot of a video showing support ship Shahid Baziar, left, from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy unlawfully towing a Saildrone Explorer unmanned surface vessel in international waters of the Arabian Gulf on August 30, 2022.

 

(CNN)The US Navy prevented an Iranian ship from capturing an American maritime drone in the Persian gulf overnight Monday into Tuesday local time in what a senior US commander called a "flagrant" and "unwarranted" incident.

While US forces in the region were transiting international waters around 11 p.m. Monday, they saw an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy support ship, Shahid Baziar, towing a US-operated maritime drone, also known as a Saildrone Explorer unmanned surface vessel, US Naval Forces Central Command said in a news release.

 

A US Navy patrol coastal ship, USS Thunderbolt, was "operating nearby and immediately responded," the Navy said.

 

https://us.cnn.com/2022/08/30/politics/iran-us-maritime-drone/?dicbo=v2-726d01619e23fccce4b4a408d0df5380