		<div class="wpcnt">
			<div class="wpa">
				<span class="wpa-about">Advertisements</span>
				<div class="u top_amp">
							<amp-ad width="300" height="265"
		 type="pubmine"
		 data-siteid="111265417"
		 data-section="1">
		</amp-ad>
				</div>
			</div>
		</div><p>Iran said its navy seized two American sea drones in the Red Sea before letting them go – the latest maritime incident involving the US navy’s new drone fleet in the Middle East.</p>
<p>Commander Timothy Hawkins, a spokesman for the Navy’s Middle East-based Fifth Fleet, acknowledged the incident on Friday to The Associated Press but declined to immediately elaborate.</p>
<p>Iranian state television aired footage it said came from the deck of the Iranian navy’s Jamaran destroyer, where lifejacket-wearing sailors examined what appeared to be two Saildrone Explorers.</p>
<p>State TV said the Iranian navy found “several unmanned spying vessels abandoned in the international maritime routes” on Thursday.</p>
<p>“After two warnings to an American destroyer to prevent possible incidents, Jamaran seized the two vessels,” state TV said.</p>
<p>“After securing the international shipping waterway, the Naval Squadron No. 84 released the vessels in a safe area.”</p>
<p>It marks the second such incident in recent days as talks over Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers hang in the balance.</p>
<p>The earlier incident involved Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, not its regular navy, and occurred in the Persian Gulf.</p>
<p>The Fifth Fleet launched its unmanned Task Force 59 last year.</p>
<p>The fleet’s area of responsibility includes the crucial Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which 20% of all oil passes.</p>
<p>It also stretches as far as the Red Sea reaches near the Suez Canal, the waterway in Egypt leading to the Mediterranean, and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait off Yemen.</p>
<p>The region has seen a series of maritime attacks in recent years.</p>
<p>Off Yemen, bomb-laden drone boats and mines set adrift by Yemen’s Houthi rebels have damaged vessels amid that country’s years-long war.</p>
<p>Near the United Arab Emirates and the Strait of Hormuz, oil tankers have been seized by Iranian forces.</p>
<p>Others have been attacked in incidents the US navy blames on Iran.</p>
<p>Those attacks came about a year after then-president Donald Trump’s 2018 decision to unilaterally withdraw from Iran’s nuclear deal, in which sanctions on Tehran were lifted in exchange for it drastically limiting its enrichment of uranium.</p>
<p>Negotiations to revive the accord now hang in the balance.</p>
<p>The US cast doubt on Iran’s latest written response over the talks on Friday.</p>
<p>Iran now enriches uranium closer than ever to weapons-grade levels as officials openly suggest Tehran could build a nuclear bomb if it wishes to.</p>
<p>Iran has maintained its programme is peaceful, though Western nations and international inspectors say Tehran had a military nuclear programme until 2003.</p>
			<div style="padding-bottom:15px;" class="wordads-tag" data-slot-type="belowpost">
				<div id="atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68cd32ef03f07">
					<script type="text/javascript">
						window.getAdSnippetCallback = function () {
							if ( false === ( window.isWatlV1 ?? false ) ) {
								// Use Aditude scripts.
								window.tudeMappings = window.tudeMappings || [];
								window.tudeMappings.push( {
									divId: 'atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68cd32ef03f07',
									format: 'belowpost',
								} );
							}
						}

						if ( document.readyState === 'loading' ) {
							document.addEventListener( 'DOMContentLoaded', window.getAdSnippetCallback );
						} else {
							window.getAdSnippetCallback();
						}
					</script>
				</div>
			</div>
Discover more from London Glossy Post
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
