The US military disclosed Monday evening that it used unmanned vessels for the first time yesterday to strike the Iranian naval base at Bandar Abbas. The revelation follows an earlier report that an unmanned vessel had destroyed a submarine maintenance facility, and now confirms the use of multiple vessels against the naval base itself.
The US military confirmed Monday evening that it used multiple unmanned vessels for the first time to strike the Iranian naval base at Bandar Abbas, a development that builds on earlier reports of a first operational use of unmanned systems against Iranian submarine infrastructure. The confirmation came shortly after 18:33 Jerusalem time, hours after the initial reports.
The Zioneer tracked the story throughout Monday. At 18:10 Jerusalem, an initial report cited CENTCOM announcing the first use of kamikaze drones against a base in Bandar Abbas. Shortly after, a separate unverified report claimed three unmanned surface vessels (USVs) destroyed an Iranian submarine at the base. That was followed by a report from Abu Ali Express specifying that the US used three Corsair suicide unmanned vessels to strike a submarine maintenance facility. By 18:10, The Zioneer reported, citing Israel Hayom, that the US military had confirmed using an unmanned vessel for the first time to destroy an Iranian submarine maintenance facility. The progression shows a shift from ambiguous "kamikaze drones" to specific unmanned vessel types, and from an unverified submarine claim to a confirmed strike on a maintenance facility.
The strike on Bandar Abbas is part of a broader US campaign against Iranian military infrastructure in southern Iran. As The Zioneer reported earlier Monday, US forces struck dozens of air defense targets in the region, and satellite imagery showed damage to US bases in the Gulf. The US has also been developing unmanned vessel capabilities, including the rescue of an Apache crew by an autonomous vessel in the Strait of Hormuz earlier this month.
The exact number of unmanned vessels used in the Bandar Abbas strike and the extent of damage to the naval base remain unclear. The US military has not provided details on the outcome of the operation, and it is not yet known whether the submarine maintenance facility was destroyed or if the submarine itself was hit.
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