TEHRAN/
WASHINGTON:
IRGC announces the capture of an unmanned submarine belonging to the US military at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday. – IRIB
Iran’s state media reported on Tuesday that the Iranian Navy had captured an unmanned US Navy submersible at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz.
“One of the US military’s most advanced unmanned underwater vehicles was seized by Iranian armed forces at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz during a complex intelligence and field operation and brought into Iran,” IRIB said.
Tasnim News Agency identified the captured system as a Dive-LD, an autonomous unmanned underwater vehicle developed by US defence technology company Anduril Industries and first delivered to the US Navy’s Unmanned Undersea Vehicle Group 1 in 2025.
According to Press TV, the “unmanned submersible incorporates some of the world’s most advanced underwater technology and was delivered to the US terrorist military in 2025”.
Press TV further reported that the IRGC announced that “photographic evidence and detailed footage” of the captured US asset would be released in the coming hours.
Separately, the Iranian army claimed it had shot down a US MQ-1 drone over the Strait of Hormuz, according to state broadcaster Press TV.
In a statement, the army said its air defence forces “detected, tracked and targeted the drone in southeastern Iran before striking and destroying it”, Press TV reported. It further added that the drone was downed by “a new advanced air defence system under the control of the country’s integrated air defence network”.
Meanwhile, the United States on Tuesday issued 36 fresh Iran-related sanctions targeting Iran’s aviation sector and other companies as part of a broad push to escalate economic pressure on Tehran as the war in the Middle East entered a seventh month.
The US Treasury Department said the action was aimed at grounding Iran’s Mahan Air, already sanctioned by the US and the European Union, and all other Iranian airlines. The sanctions also took aim at covert front companies, foreign intermediaries and deceptive trans-shipment routes that Washington says Iran relies on to obtain US-origin aircraft and sensitive technology.
The Treasury also issued an alert asking financial institutions to report any procurement networks supporting Iran’s aviation industry, while designating firms based in Turkey and the United Arab Emirates that it said helped Tehran procure US-origin aircraft and sensitive technology.
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control also suspended three Iran-related aviation authorizations that allowed overflights and permitted non-US-airlines to fly US-origin or US-controlled commercial aircraft into Iran.
Tuesday’s actions marked a sharp escalation of the Trump administration’s renewed push to squeeze Iran’s economy and pressure Tehran to loosen its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz. A US naval blockade and tougher sanctions are curbing oil exports, restricting access to foreign currency and exposing growing strains in the economy.
