IRGC Says Iran Captures Advanced US Unmanned Underwater Vehicle Near Strait of Hormuz

TEHRAN: Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) says its forces have intercepted and captured a highly advanced US unmanned underwater vehicle near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, describing the operation as a major demonstration of Iran’s surveillance and intelligence capabilities.

The IRGC Navy said on Tuesday that its personnel detected and seized the American underwater vehicle following what it described as a “complex intelligence and operational action.”

IRGC Navy releases footage of captured US Navy’s unmanned submersible vehicle

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According to the Iranian force, the incident demonstrated that even advanced American underwater technology could not penetrate Iran’s surveillance network around the strategically important waterway.

The IRGC said the captured vehicle incorporates advanced underwater technology and was delivered to the US military in 2025.

The system was identified as a Dive-LD autonomous unmanned underwater vehicle, developed by US defence technology company Anduril Industries.

According to the specifications cited by the IRGC, the vehicle is approximately 5.8 metres long, around 1.2 metres in diameter and weighs roughly 2.7 tonnes.

The system is designed for extended underwater missions, with an endurance of up to 10 days and a reported maximum operating depth of approximately 6,000 metres.

IRGC spokesman Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi said the capture demonstrated the strength of Iran’s surveillance capabilities in the Strait of Hormuz.

He said the successful dawn operation showed that advanced technology deployed by the United States could still be detected and intercepted by Iranian forces.

“Dominance over the Persian Gulf belongs to our young technology specialists,” Mohebbi said.

Addressing Washington directly, the IRGC spokesman also invoked the failed Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba in 1961, telling the United States to “go back to the Bay of Pigs.”

The reported capture comes amid continued confrontation around the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most strategically important maritime passages.

Iran closed the waterway after the latest US-Israeli military escalation began on February 28, according to Tehran.

Iran and the United States later agreed to a 60-day reopening period under a Pakistan-mediated memorandum of understanding reached in June.

Tehran says it subsequently introduced measures intended to facilitate safe and lawful maritime transit, but argues that US actions violated the understanding and forced Iran to restore restrictions on the waterway.

Iran has linked any further reopening of the Strait of Hormuz to several conditions.

These include the lifting of what Tehran describes as the illegal US naval and economic blockade, a durable halt to military aggression across the region, including Lebanon, and clarification of the situation surrounding the blockade of Yemen.

The reported seizure of the unmanned underwater vehicle adds another dimension to the confrontation, highlighting the increasingly technological nature of military operations around the Strait of Hormuz.

For Iran, the incident is being presented as evidence that its surveillance, intelligence and maritime capabilities remain capable of detecting sophisticated foreign military systems operating near its strategic waters.