The situation in the Middle East has recently been highly tense, with Israel frequently bombing Iranian targets in Syria and Iran repeatedly seizing unmanned vehicles of U.S. Armed forces
Despite the failure to capture the American Saildrone Explorer unmanned ship in late August, it became known that the Iranian military managed to successfully capture two other drones. This happened in less than an hour and at the moment the unmanned ships are successfully in the territorial waters of Iran.
On September 2, CNN reported that U.S. officials confirmed that two reconnaissance ships of the 5th Fleet were being seized by the Iranian Navy. The latest U.S.-Iran clash took place on Thursday. A U.S. defense official said the Iranian Navy was observed at the time taking two U.S. unmanned reconnaissance ships on the water out of the water in an “attempt to steal them.”
The Fifth Fleet established an unmanned contingent last year. The drones they use include ultra-endurance aerial reconnaissance drones, surface ships such as seahawks and sea hunters, and small torpedo-like drones. The Iranian Navy seized this time was the Saildrone Explorer USV which had previously operated in the southern Red Sea waters and had been sailing the area for more than 200 days, taking a large number of photographs.
Subsequently, a large number of US troops were thrown into the battle for unmanned boats. The U.S. military quickly dispatched two nearby destroyers, the USS Nietzsche and the USS Delbert D. Black, as well as two helicopters, into the nearby waters and demanded the return of the drones via radio communications. A U.S. Defense Department official said they called the Iranian destroyer by radio and tracked the ship until Friday morning when it released the drone.
That is to say, from the incident on Thursday to the release of the unmanned boat on Friday, several hours passed. During this period, Iranian warships have been facing off and maneuvering with US destroyers and helicopters.
Afterwards, the Iranian side also released many details of the seizure of two US Navy reconnaissance ships. A video broadcast on Iranian state television showed sailors in life jackets inspecting two U.S. Marine Saildrone Explorer unmanned boats on the deck of the Iranian Navy’s Jamaran destroyer. Another warship could be seen in the distance, which the Iranian Navy later threw into the sea.
Iranian state television said Iranian Navy destroyer Jamaran found “several unmanned reconnaissance ships abandoned on international sea lanes” while on a counterterrorism mission in the Red Sea on Thursday and that “after two warnings to U.S. destroyers to prevent a possible collision, the Iranian Navy intervened to seize both ships.” ”
The Iranian Navy issued a message pointing out that after the two unmanned boats of the US military were salvaged, the necessary inspections were carried out and the safety of navigation was ensured, and the above-mentioned ships were left in the safe area according to the commander’s decision. The Iranian destroyer notified U.S. forces to receive and warned the U.S. Navy to be responsible for maritime safety and avoid repeating similar cases.
In recent years, IRGC vessels and small vessels have had many unprofessional interactions with the U.S. Navy. Just this Monday in the Persian Gulf, Iran, and the U.S. military had similar clashes. At that time, the Iranian Navy captured an unmanned U.S. warship and returned it after a four-hour standoff with the U.S. Military.
At a critical juncture in Iran’s relationship with the United States, negotiations to restart the Iran nuclear deal are also at a sensitive stage. The same incident has occurred repeatedly, indicating that the relationship between the United States and Iran has suddenly become tense again!