Iran (IMNA) - According to a statement issued by the IRGC Navy on Tuesday, the operation was carried out in the early hours of the day following what it described as a “complex intelligence and operational action.”
The IRGC Navy said the unmanned submersible incorporates some of the world’s most advanced underwater technologies and was delivered to the US military in 2025. The force also announced that photographic evidence and detailed footage of the captured US asset would be released in the coming hours.
Iranian news agency Tasnim identified the captured system as a Dive-LD, an autonomous unmanned underwater vehicle developed by US defense technology company Anduril Industries. The system was first delivered to the US Navy’s Unmanned Undersea Vehicle Group 1 in 2025.
The Dive-LD is approximately 5.8 meters long, has a diameter of about 1.2 meters and weighs roughly 2.7 tonnes. Its published specifications include an endurance of up to 10 days underwater and a maximum operating depth of around 6,000 meters.
Designed as a modular autonomous platform, the Dive-LD can be configured for a range of missions, including intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, seabed mapping, infrastructure inspection and mine-countermeasure operations.
The seizure comes amid a sharp escalation between Iran and the United States over the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world’s most strategically important maritime chokepoints. The waterway has increasingly become a key arena in the US war on Iran, prompting Tehran to assert greater control over maritime activity in and around the strait.
Recent military exchanges have included US strikes on Iranian oil tankers and Iranian missile attacks targeting US naval forces. On September 6, Iran said it had struck a US unmanned vessel attempting to enter a restricted area near the Strait of Hormuz.
The capture of the unmanned underwater vehicle marks the latest episode in a long history of Iranian interception and seizure of advanced Western military technology.
Over the past decade, Iranian forces have downed or captured numerous high-value US assets, including the RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone, MQ-9 Reaper drones, and various underwater gliders and surface vessels in the Persian Gulf.
Reverse-engineering captured technologies has historically played a significant role in accelerating Iran’s domestic drone and unmanned naval programs.
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