On 29 August, the US Navy announced that it stopped Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGC-N) from seizing an unmanned surface vehicle operated by the United States Fifth Fleet in the Persian Gulf.

The US Navy revealed that “while navigating in international waters, the US Fifth Fleet spotted the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ support vessel, Shahid Bazyar, pulling out an unmanned vessel in an attempt to capture it.”

According to the Navy, the US Fifth Fleet called the coastal patrol ship USS Thunderbolt that was operating nearby to move on the objective immediately, the operation included an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter from the 26th Marine Combat Helicopter Squadron, based in Bahrain.

The IRGC-N ship detached the towing link and left the area four hours later, allowing the US Navy to resume its operations without further incidents.

Brad Cooper, the commander of US Naval Forces Central Command and the US Fifth Fleet, commented on the incident describing the actions of the IRGC-N as “blatant, unjustified, and inconsistent with the behavior of a professional naval force.”

According to the statement, the unmanned surface vessel was described as “US government property equipped with sensors, radars, navigation cameras, and data collection,” claiming the technology is commercially available and does not save sensitive or confidential information.”

Yesterday night’s incident in the Persian Gulf comes as tensions run high between the US and Iran-backed armed groups in Syria’s Deir Ezzor eastern countryside, where both sides have exchanged fire in recent days.

Meanwhile, Syrian media reported that US troops smuggled 123 fuel tankers out of the Hasakah governorate, the theft of oil has cost the country at least $107.1 billion in revenue since the beginning of the war in 2011.

In 2020, the US Navy announced IRGC-N warships had carried out “dangerously provocative” maneuvers near US warships that were patrolling in international waters in the Persian Gulf.