Hormuz: Rare US Strike On Iranian ‘Small Boats’ Caught Trying To Seize Surface Drone

President Trump and the Iranians have been issuing competing claims over who has ‘control’ over the Strait of Hormuz and the degree to which it is ‘open’ to global energy transit.

The situation on the ground remains dire, given almost daily hostile confrontations between Iranian and US naval forces there. According to the latest: “The U.S. military destroyed two Iranian small boats Monday after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps tried to steal a Navy drone patrolling the Strait of Hormuz,” US officials were quoted in Axios as saying.

The confrontation is being dubbed “unusual” for the fact that it involved small boats, and not the larger tankers which have been closely watched by international maritime monitors.

Iranian media reports emerged on the incident Monday, but state sources presented it as a US attack on “fishing boats” - which occurred off the port city of Kargan and near Larak Island.

Here’s how US officials and Axios present the he said, she said competing accounts…

Iranian side:

Nafisi said an unspecified number of fishermen were missing and that search-and-rescue operations were underway, according to Iran’s semi-official Mehr News Agency.

Pentagon side says:

• A U.S. official said the IRGC used the boats to try to capture a naval drone that the U.S. military uses to patrol the Strait of Hormuz.
• After U.S. forces identified the attempt, an American drone fired two missiles at the boats, destroying them and killing most of those on board.

Judging by videos that widely circulated Monday which appear to show the same incident, the surface drone may have suffered some damage. But again, it’s unclear whether the released footage (apparently via the Iranian side) depicts the same incident or possibly a prior episode:

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) says its navy struck a US-operated surface drone at the entrance of the Strait of Hormuz, claiming to have “thwarted an aggressive mission” using the sailboat-shaped device. Washington has yet to comment. pic.twitter.com/lyDDM5Hrfg

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) September 11, 2026

Further, US Central Command spokesman Capt. Tim Hawkins said of the alleged attempted seizure, “Iranian small boats recently attempted to take possession of a U.S. unmanned surface vessel, but they were unsuccessful after CENTCOM forcefully responded.”

He then noted that the intercept wasn’t successful and the the surface drone remains under the operation of US forces. As for aerial drones, the Iranians have downed, captured, or disabled dozens of aerial UAVs throughout the over six-month long conflict. Many have been expensive MQ-9 Reaper drones.