The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it had captured a US underwater drone in the strategic Strait of Hormuz. The Islamic Republic has been blocking the strait since the start of the war in the Middle East, Agence France-Presse reported, BTA reported.
The IRGC said that at dawn today it had "captured one of the most advanced underwater drones of the US military at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz", according to a statement released by state television.
"Images of the underwater vehicle will be provided in the coming hours", the statement added.
According to Iranian media, this underwater vehicle is used for missions of "reconnaissance and surveillance of the seabed, inspection of underwater cables and pipelines, mapping of the seabed and detection of mines".
The strategic Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's hydrocarbons passed before the war, has been blocked by Tehran since the beginning of the war, which began on February 28, following Israeli-American strikes on Iran. In response, the United States blockaded Iranian ports.
Iran has demanded that ships be granted permission to pass through the strait, insisting that there will be no return to the free navigation regime that existed before the war. It has also sought to impose service fees on ships passing through the strait - a measure strongly rejected by Washington and several countries in the region.