Iran's Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) said Thursday that its naval forces had targeted a U.S. unmanned surface vehicle (USV) in the Strait of Hormuz.
In a statement published on its official news outlet Sepah News, the IRGC said the Saildrone Explorer-type USV was on an "aggressive mission" and was struck at the strait's entrance.
Saildrone Explorer USVs were previously used in the region by the U.S. Fifth Fleet and Task Force 59 headquartered in Bahrain, the IRGC said, adding that the U.S. naval base in Bahrain had been targeted in Iranian strikes and the USVs are now used by a unit based in Khasab in Oman.
The IRGC repeated that the Strait of Hormuz is closed and under its control, warning that "any hostile presence in the strategic waterway will be targeted."
IRGC spokesman Hossein Mohebbi said Tuesday that no advanced technology can break Iran's multi-layer surveillance system in the Strait of Hormuz, the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) reported on Wednesday.
The capabilities of Iran's surveillance layers in the Strait of Hormuz had been proved by the capture of one of the U.S. army's most advanced unmanned underwater vehicles in the strategic waterway Tuesday, said Mohebbi.
The IRGC navy said Tuesday that it had captured one of the U.S. army's "most modern" unmanned submarines at the entrance of the Strait of Hormuz.
The U.S. military said that the captured unmanned underwater vehicle had a malfunction more than a day ago and was not carrying any sensitive data or classified equipment.
Iran's IRGC says hit U.S. sea drone in Hormuz Strait
