Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says it has destroyed a US Saildrone Explorer reconnaissance vessel at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, releasing footage showing the unmanned craft burning in the water.
The IRGC Navy said on Thursday that the vessel, identified by hull number 5838, was struck while operating near the strategic waterway. Iranian state media described it as an American surveillance drone, but the US military has not confirmed the loss.
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“The American terrorist and aggressor army, over the past few days, out of fear of approaching and confronting the fighters of Islam, has dispatched its unmanned vessels to the Strait of Hormuz,” the IRGC said.
The strategic waterway remains under Tehran’s control and “intelligence surveillance,” the IRGC added, warning that “any hostile presence in this strategic strait will be targeted.”
The roughly seven-meter Saildrone Explorer is an unmanned surface vessel equipped with cameras, sensors, and communications systems for maritime surveillance and reconnaissance. The US Navy previously deployed the platform with the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet’s Task Force 59, which integrates unmanned systems and AI into regional operations.
The latest incident comes just two days after the IRGC captured a US underwater drone at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz. Footage released by Tehran shows what appears to be an Anduril-built Dive-LD autonomous underwater vehicle commissioned in 2025. The Pentagon acknowledged that it lost the submersible, but said it was old and broken and carried no sensitive data or classified equipment.
The incidents come amid an escalating maritime standoff between the US and Iran.
The US has destroyed several Iranian oil tankers after accusing the IRGC of firing ballistic missiles at US warships. Iran has attacked US vessels and commercial tankers it accused of violating restrictions regarding the Strait of Hormuz.
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The confrontation has severely disrupted traffic through one of the world’s most important energy corridors and pushed Brent crude above $107 a barrel, while farther west, Iran-aligned Houthi forces are tightening their grip on Bab al-Mandeb, another vital chokepoint linking the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.
