Iran Claims ‘Hunting The Hunter’ As It Captures US Underwater Drone That Could Be Reverse Engineered

Iran has claimed it captured a US made autonomous underwater drone near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, raising concerns that Tehran could examine and potentially reverse engineer American underwater technology. The reported seizure comes amid the biggest wave of tit for tat attacks on shipping since the six month old US Iran war began.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy said it seized the unmanned vehicle during an operational mission near Hormuz. Iranian state media identified it as a Dive LD, a 19 foot autonomous underwater vehicle developed by California based defence company Anduril Industries.

The vehicle is designed for long endurance underwater missions, including seabed mapping, mine detection, intelligence gathering and inspection of submerged infrastructure such as cables and pipelines. It can reportedly operate continuously for up to 10 days and reach depths of around 6,000 metres.

Iran’s reported capture could give its engineers an opportunity to study the drone’s propulsion, battery systems, hull design, acoustic sensors and navigation equipment. Defence analysts told Reuters that even without access to classified software or sensitive data, examining the physical platform could provide useful insights into how advanced Western underwater systems are designed and operated.

Iran has experience studying captured US military technology. In 2011, Tehran displayed an American RQ 170 Sentinel stealth drone that it said it had captured after bringing it down over Iranian territory. The Dive LD could now offer Iran a rare opportunity to examine US technology in the underwater domain.

The Pentagon has sought to play down the intelligence risk. US officials said the underwater vehicle suffered a technical malfunction and described it as an older system. Washington also said it did not contain sensitive technology or classified data.

The reported capture comes as the US and Iran continue to escalate around Hormuz. The US recently destroyed five Iranian oil tankers, four in the Gulf of Oman and one near Kharg Island, after repeated Iranian attempts to target a US Navy warship. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio warned that Iran would lose more tankers if it continued trying to strike American naval vessels.

Iranian media have separately claimed that its air defence forces shot down a US MQ 1 drone over the Strait of Hormuz. Washington has not confirmed the claim.

Against this backdrop, Iranian lawmaker Kamran Ghazanfari has warned that the world is “practically on the brink of World War III”. The Tehran parliament member said the expansion of the Russia Ukraine war and growing tensions among major powers could create conditions for a much wider conflict.

Ghazanfari specifically pointed to NATO’s support for Ukraine, tensions between Russia, Britain and Germany, and the US China dispute over Taiwan as other potential flash points. He also said Iran’s parliament could again consider the issue of withdrawing from the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty, although this remains a political possibility rather than a confirmed decision.