TEHRAN – The chief commander of the Iranian Army Navy has said that the United States begged for the release of its Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs) that were seized by Iran in the Red Sea in August.

Speaking at Tehran’s Friday Prayer sermon, Rear Admiral Shahram Irani referred to the August seizure of U.S. USVs by Iran, saying that “after their vessels were seized in the Red Sea, the Americans started begging for the release of their vessels. They didn’t dare enter this region anymore.”

Irani also praised the capabilities of the Iranian Army Navy, saying that the force is able to establish an around-the-clock presence on the high seas. 

“Today, the strategic naval fleet of the Islamic Republic of Iran Army has expanded to all ocean areas and has the task of escorting commercial vessels and oil tankers as the economic artery of the country and is currently carrying out its mission,” he said, according to IRNA. 

Irani added, “Today, the strategic navy of the Islamic Republic of Iran has the honor of providing its own equipment and use of all the scientific and industrial capacity of the country, especially elites and knowledge-based companies, and does not need any country.”

On September 2, the Iranian Navy announced that it had detained and then released two USVs in the Red Sea. Footage of the incident released by Iran’s state TV showed that the Red Sea USVs were of the same type detained by the IRGC Navy in the Persian Gulf, ringing alarm bells about further encounters in the future.

Commenting on the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea incidents, Nour News said at the time that the U.S. USVs endangered commercial maritime security in the region.

“In continuation of the tension-causing behavior of the United States in West Asia, especially in the Persian Gulf, this country has sent unmanned reconnaissance vessels to international waters in the region in recent weeks,” it said.

In late August, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy detained and towed a U.S. vessel that seemed new to the maritime theater in the Persian Gulf.

The dhow-shaped vessel, known as Saildrone, was controlled and towed by the IRGC Navy with the purpose of ensuring the security of shipping routes and preventing a possible accident, according to Nour News, a website linked to Iran’s Supreme National Security Council.

Saildrone is an unmanned surface vessel (USV) developed by the United States to increase maritime surveillance in the troubled waters of the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman.

The U.S. 5th Fleet in Bahrain alleged in a statement that it prevented Iran from “capturing” its USV. “The U.S. Navy prevented a support ship from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) from capturing an unmanned surface vessel operated by the U.S. 5th Fleet” in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. 5th Fleet said in a statement. A few days later, another encounter took place involving the American-operated USVs, this time in the Red Sea.