https://ift.tt/jS4ae31 United States compelled Iran for a second time this week to release U.S. military sail drones that it tried to seize at sea, a U.S. defense official said on Friday.
Iran has been building up its naval presence in the Red Sea, near the coast of Yemen where Tehran backs the Houthi movement, after sending vessels there more than a decade ago to protect Iranian oil tankers and merchant ships against piracy.
The incident there, after an earlier one in the Gulf, was the latest reminder of military tensions between the United States and Iran, even as both countries pursue nuclear talks.
They follow exchanges of fire last week between the U.S. troops and Iran-backed groups in Syria.
Iran state television earlier on Friday acknowledged the Iranian navy released two U.S. maritime drones in the Red Sea but accused the American unmanned vessels of jeopardizing maritime safety, without providing evidence.
“The [Iranian navy] frigate Jamaran seized the two vessels on Thursday to prevent any possible accident after issuing warnings to the U.S. fleet. After international shipping lanes were secured, the two vessels were released in a safe area,” Iran state TV said.
The U.S. military has not officially commented on the incident. But a U.S. defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, offered a different account of the incident, suggesting the Iranians sought to secretly seize the drones.
The official said an Iranian navy warship pulled two U.S. sail drones completely out of the water on Thursday and then covered them with tarps.
Iran initially denied having any U.S. property before returning them on Friday to the U.S. warships that converged on the scene, a U.S. official said.
Iranian television footage aired on Friday appeared to show more than a dozen Iranian navy personnel pushing two drones into the sea from the deck of their vessel.
On Tuesday, the U.S. Navy said it foiled an attempt by Iran’s Revolutionary Guard naval forces to capture an unmanned surface vessel operated by the U.S. 5th Fleet in the Gulf. Iran said the drone was a danger to maritime traffic.
Iran has repeatedly warned the United States about its military activities in the Gulf, saying that the Guard’s naval forces have increased patrols to secure the passage of Iranian ships and combat fuel smuggling.
The U.S. military, meanwhile, has expanded its use of sea-based drones in the region.
It is unclear if Iran might be seizing the U.S. drones in an attempt to copy them. Some of Iran’s drones are based on unmanned aircraft from other countries, and it tried to copy an aerial U.S. RQ-170 Sentinel reconnaissance drone captured in 2011.
Author webdesk@voanews.com (Reuters)
Source : VOA