US says it destroyed two Iranian boats after drone seizure bid off Hormuz
The US military said on Tuesday that it had opened fire and destroyed two small Iranian boats this week after they tried to take control of an American drone vessel in waters off Iran. The incident is the latest exchange in the more than six-month-old conflict between the two sides, centred on control of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian state media, however, reported on Monday that two fishing boats were attacked off Hormozgan province on the country’s southern coast and that several fishermen were missing. As tensions continue, the conflict has also added to pressure on oil and petrol prices, while the US and regional countries are discussing efforts to reduce tensions and reopen the key shipping route.
Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesman for US Central Command, said the Iranian boats “recently attempted to take possession of a US unmanned surface vessel” but failed after the military “forcefully responded”. He said the drone involved was a Saildrone, a small unmanned vessel about 25 feet (8 metres) long, which can operate on its own. US Central Command has used such vessels in the region for several years to monitor maritime traffic. Hawkins added that all of the command’s surface drones “remain fully accounted for” and said the technology on the Saildrones is commercially available and not sensitive.
In Iran, Ahmad Nafisi, Hormozgan’s deputy governor, told the Islamic Republic News Agency that the two boats came under attack on Monday evening from what he described as an “enemy drone” in the Persian Gulf. The IRNA report did not mention any attempt by Iranian forces to seize a US drone. The latest episode came a week after Iranian state television reported that the country’s navy had captured one of the US military’s underwater drones at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz. At the time, Hawkins said an Anduril Dive-LD drone had malfunctioned while surveying the waters and was no longer in US possession. He said the drone was defective and was an “older model that neither collected sensitive data nor carried any classified sonar or radar equipment”.
The clash comes as both sides continue to compete for control over the Strait of Hormuz, a critical energy shipping route. The US has in recent weeks loosened Iran’s grip over the corridor, but the conflict has raised the cost of oil and petrol, creating political pressure for President Donald Trump and his Republican Party ahead of the November congressional midterm elections. “Oil will drop like a rock as soon as the Military Conflict with Iran is over, and that will not be long,” Trump said in a social media post on Monday. On Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke to Oman’s foreign minister about the Gulf country’s efforts to de-escalate tensions and reopen the strait, the State Department said.
Oil markets have also been hit by increased attacks by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen on Saudi shipping and infrastructure. The attacks have disrupted alternate Saudi export routes, including an attack days ago that damaged the kingdom’s biggest pipeline, and advances that strengthened the Houthis’ ability to choke off Saudi oil exports through the Red Sea. In Washington, fresh reports have set out the costs of the war for the US, including pressure on stocks of advanced missile interceptors and damage to aircraft, bases and diplomatic outposts. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said on Tuesday that the war had cost the Pentagon more than USD 38 billion through August 1 and could cost up to USD 3 billion a month or more depending on the intensity of the fighting. It said the war was expected to add to inflation into the first quarter of next year. A Pentagon inspector general’s report released on Monday said Iranian strikes had damaged or destroyed hundreds of buildings and other structures at US bases in the Middle East, as well as dozens of American aircraft and drones.
The latest sea clash, Iran’s account of an attack on fishing boats, the fighting around the Strait of Hormuz, and the wider pressure on oil markets together underline how the conflict is expanding in military and economic terms, even as diplomatic efforts to ease tensions continue.
