Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, the IRGC, have reportedly seized another American submarine drone in the Strait of Hormuz.
“Through a coordinated, complex operation involving intelligence oversight and electronic warfare, IRGC naval forces’ personnel successfully captured an advanced unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) belonging to the terrorist US military,” the IRGC naval forces said in a statement, according to state TV.
The IRGC added that the drone was “operating in the Strait of Hormuz for espionage purposes”, identifying the model as a Remus 600 autonomous underwater vehicle that was “now in the hands of the force’s specialists for data recovery”.
Earlier, as EurAsian Times reported, the IRGC, on September 8, said that they had recovered a US drone submarine at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz.
“One of the US military’s most advanced unmanned underwater vehicles was seized by Iranian armed forces at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz during a complex intelligence and field operation and brought into Iran, IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) said in a post on X.
Iran’s state media later officially identified the captured vessel as an Anduril Dive-LD UUV.
The US military confirmed the seizure but downplayed its significance. US Navy Captain Tim Hawkins, the spokesperson for US CENTCOM, said, “An underwater drone operated by US forces malfunctioned more than a day ago. It was surveying regional waters in support of ongoing operations. The defective drone was an older model that neither collected sensitive data nor carried any classified sonar or radar equipment. US operations in area waters continue.”
⚡️BREAKING: Iran has Announced the Seizure of the U.S. Navy's REMUS 600 Autonomous Underwater Vehicle
So far, Two Advanced U.S. Navy Autonomous Underwater Vehicles have been taken by Iran, including an Anduril Dive-LD
These incidents will surely strengthen Iran's Underwater… pic.twitter.com/lIUFzZ2hOH
— Iran Observer (@IranObserver0) September 27, 2026
Remus 600
In 2018, Houthi divers captured a US Navy Remus 600 off Yemen.
In the video posted online by local media, four men described as members of the “Houthi Navy” in dive gear could be seen surrounding a REMUS 600 with the name “Smokey” printed on the body. The Houthis discovered the UUV somewhere near the coast of Yemen.
No footage showed an Houthi interception. According to analysts, the Smokey might have finished its pre-programmed mission, surfaced for GPS or as part of an abort routine, and was spotted before the American recovery boat arrived.
Houthi messaging called it a “spy REMUS 600 submarine” belonging to the “U.S.-Saudi aggression coalition.”
US Navy officials neither confirmed nor denied that the UUV was theirs and gave no details on the operations in the region. An unnamed defense official told USNI News it was a passive meteorological-research system.
That appears consistent with the yellow paint and with how the US Navy has used Remus vehicles for oceanographic work as well as mine warfare.
The US Navy never publicly acknowledged the loss of “Smokey.”
The latest incident of Iran seizing the “drone submarine” is hence not the first time one of these vehicles has ended up in the wrong hands.
The Remus 600 is a mine countermeasures vehicle. It is used by the US Navy to hunt naval mines. It was seized right after Iran spent last night laying mines in the US-backed southern Omani corridor.
The REMUS 600 is between 9 and 18 feet long, depending on the mission and payload, and can travel at about 4.5 knots, according to online fact sheets from Kongsberg Gruppen. REMUS 600 was initially developed in 2003 through a partnership with the US Navy and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
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