TEHRAN -- A website close to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) has shed light on the circumstances surrounding the brief seizure by Iranian naval forces of a U.S. unmanned surface vessel stranded in the Persian Gulf, saying the measure was taken to prevent possible maritime incidents and safeguard shipping lanes.
Nour News reported the naval forces of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) took “timely action” earlier in the day to seize the U.S. vessel, whose “navigational system had failed,” and began towing it with the aim of supporting safe and secure shipping in the Persian Gulf.
The measure was taken to avert the kind of incidents that the report said had occurred several times over the past weeks.
Nour News said the ship was released on the order of the Iranian support vessel’s commander and only after a U.S. fleet arrived at the scene and was reminded that it must observe shipping security and risk-free navigation.
The report dismissed the “Hollywoodesque narrative” offered by the U.S. Navy with the intention of “covering up some of its failures” against Iranian naval forces in the Persian Gulf.
The U.S. Navy tried to portray the development as an unprovoked attempt by the IRGC to capture the military vessel.
It claimed it kept Iran from seizing a Saildrone Explorer — the uncrewed vessel — in the Persian Gulf after the 5th Fleet noticed a ship operated by Iran’s IRGC Navy towing the American vessel.
The USS Thunderbolt and a Sea Hawk helicopter based in Bahrain responded to the incident, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command said, adding that the Iranian ship eventually disconnected its tow line and left the area.
In provocative comments on the issue, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) chief Michael Erik Kurilla charged that the incident demonstrated “Iran’s continued destabilizing, illegal, and unprofessional activity in the Middle East.”
Reacting to those comments, an informed military source told Nour News that the illegitimate presence of U.S. military forces in the Persian Gulf had always caused insecurity.
“This trend, recently [reinforced] by the usage of unmanned vessels, has created new problems for safe shipping in the region,” the source said.