According to Global Network , citing AP on October 22, local time, Iraqi Navy Commander Irani announced a "big news" at a press conference - the 84th Fleet of Iran officially returned to the port a few days ago after completing 86 days of long duty tasks in international waters. , and this fleet also brought back a "big gift": two "unmanned ships at sea" affiliated to the US Navy. There is no doubt that if the news is true, it will be that since the US military lost the RQ-170 drone in Iran, the US military once again delivered its "advanced equipment" to the hands of the Iranians , and the negative impact this has on the US military is self-evident.
However, Pentagon denies this "result" that the Iranian authorities show off. The US military publicly responded on the same day that the US unmanned ships did not "lost their traces" in the Persian Gulf, and its unmanned fleet is still operating in the waters of the Middle East of in accordance with the international law, and has not suspended its operations, which proves that the news from Iran is completely "fictional".
But Americans are tough-mouthed does not mean that Iran is just lying: when the Americans lost the RQ-170, facing the photos posted by the Iranian side, the US military insisted at the beginning, "We cannot be sure whether this drone belongs to the United States." It was not until a few days later that the U.S. was forced to admit that the drone belonged to the United States and asked Iran to return it. Therefore, this time, neither the one-sided statement of the US military nor the Iraqi army cannot prove the authenticity of either side's views without sufficient evidence.
But it should be noted that this is not the first time that Iran has tried to capture the U.S. military's unmanned ship. In late August this year, the Iraqi army's "Shahid Market" support ship approached the US "Sailboat Explorer" unmanned ship at night and detained it. This matter quickly attracted great attention from the US side. The US "Thunder" patrol ship, which was moving nearby, rushed to the sea area to intercept Iraqi support ships. The Seahawk helicopter of the 26th Maritime Helicopter Combat Squadron also took off from Bahrain to provide air support. The two sides were once "tough". until several hours later, the Iranian side had to cut off the streamer and release the unmanned ship . The maritime crisis ended with Iran's concession. After the incident, the United States and Iran launched a new round of "war of words". The US accused Iran of taking action to endanger the security of the high seas and undermine navigation rules, while the Iranian side accused the US of using unmanned ships to collect sensitive military information and threaten Iran's national security.
One thing that is certain is that Iran is indeed taking active measures to combat the "unmanned maritime reconnaissance network" that the United States is vigorously promoting in the Middle East. It is reported that since 2021, the 59th Task Force of the US Navy has begun to establish an unmanned ship-based information network in the Persian Gulf, trying to enhance the US military's control and influence over the narrow waters of the Persian Gulf. According to Fifth Fleet Commander Cooper, the U.S. military has deployed about 8,000 unmanned ships in the waters as of October this year, and will also invest more unmanned ships in November.
With this system, the US military can conduct real-time and high-precision monitoring of any ship in the Persian Gulf, and artificial intelligence can even determine the navigation status and destination of these ships. To put it nicely, the US military is "monitoring maritime security risks", and to put it nicely, the US military is playing a "edge ball", trying to regionalize international waters and ensure that any potential opponent's warship will be in a passive position in the information level of the battlefield in the Persian Gulf, so that the US military can maintain its advantage in the region and firmly hold on to the strategic location of the Persian Gulf. From this perspective, it is normal for Iran to catch some American unmanned ships and go back to study and find ways to crack the US military's "surveillance network".
