ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iran said Sunday it has captured a US unmanned submarine vehicle “intact” in the contentious Strait of Hormuz, weeks after the country claimed the seizure of another naval reconnaissance vehicle in the waterway amid regional hostilities between Washington and Tehran, state media reported Sunday. The state-run Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) shared footage of a torpedo-shaped unmanned underwater vehicle being pulled by anonymous individuals in a dark area with flashlights on. Later, the Islamic Republican Guard Corps (IRGC)-affiliated Fars News Agency described the captured submersible drone as the US-made REMUS 600, noting that it can be used at depths of up to 600 meters and is designed for “underwater reconnaissance missions, seabed mapping, mine detection and classification, environmental data collection, and searching for subsurface targets.” It further claimed that the vehicle’s capture offers “significant value” for the Iranian armed forces as it can illustrate US military “tactics, data collection methods, and operational patterns” of the other deployed reconnaissance systems. US Central Command (CENTCOM) has yet to comment on the claim. However, when Iran announced the capture of the first US unmanned submarine on September 8, CENTCOM downplayed its significance by saying that the vehicle had "malfunctioned" and carried no “sensitive data.” IRGC at the time described the seized submersible - identified as Dive-LD - as “one of the most modern smart unmanned submarines.” Nearly seven months after the outbreak of the war in late February, the US and Iran have entered a cautious pause characterized by efforts to resume negotiations facilitated by Qatari mediators. Iran has demanded the lifting of the US blockade on its southern ports, cessation of hostilities across all fronts - including Lebanon - and the release of Iranian frozen funds. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Saturday that reopening the Strait of Hormuz “depends on these conditions being met; and we will make decisions based on a definitive response from the mediators.” Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump had told Rudaw earlier in the week that they “rejected” Iran’s proposal to end the war. But Araghchi said Saturday that “nothing has yet been conveyed to us by the mediators.” RELATED: Iran says yet to receive formal US response on Hormuz proposal
