US military says it destroyed 2 small Iranian boats trying to steal a drone

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military said Tuesday that it opened fire and destroyed two small Iranian boats this week trying to steal a drone ship in the waters off Iran.

Capt. Tim Hawkins, U.S. Central Command spokesman said that “Iranian small boats recently attempted to take possession of a U.S. unmanned surface vessel, but they were unsuccessful after CENTCOM forcefully responded."

Iranian state media reported Monday that a pair of fishing boats came under attack in Hormozgan province on Iran’s southern coast and that several fishermen were reported missing, citing a provincial official.

It is the latest volley of fire in the more than six-month-old war as both sides seek control over the Strait of Hormuz, where the U.S. has succeeded in recent weeks in loosening Iran’s grip over the critical energy shipping corridor. But the impact of the unpopular conflict has driven up the cost of oil and gasoline prices, posing political problems for President Donald Trump and his Republican Party.

Hawkins said Tuesday that the drone involved is a “Saildrone” — a small, roughly 25-foot (8-meter) craft — that can operate by itself. U.S. Central Command has been using them in the region for several years to surveil maritime traffic.

Hawkins said all of the command’s surface drones “remain fully accounted for.” The military has long asserted that the technology on the Saildrones is commercially available and not sensitive in nature.

The latest drone incident, which was reported earlier by Axios, comes a week after Iranian state television reported that the country's navy captured one of the U.S. military’s underwater drones at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz.

Hawkins said then that an Anduril Dive-LD drone had malfunctioned while it was surveying the waters in the region and that the U.S. military no longer had possession of it. He stressed that the drone was defective and noted that it was also an “older model that neither collected sensitive data no carried any classified sonar or radar equipment.”