CENTCOM denies IRGC claim it destroyed a US unmanned vessel in Hormuz

US Central Command (CENTCOM) on Friday, 30 October, called false the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' claim that it had destroyed a US unmanned military vessel in the Strait of Hormuz. In a post on X, CENTCOM wrote that, like many other IRGC claims this week, this one is not true: the location of every US unmanned vessel in the Middle East is known, all of them are under control and none has been lost.

According to CENTCOM, a squadron of advanced US unmanned vessels patrols the Strait of Hormuz and forms part of the US defensive layer in the waterway. CENTCOM did not give the number or type of the vessels. Admiral Brad Cooper, the CENTCOM commander, also said the same day that the main, established shipping lanes through the Strait of Hormuz have been cleared of the Islamic Republic's mines.

25 tanker crew rescued in the Strait of Hormuz

At the same time, Oman's Maritime Security Centre said it had rescued 25 crew members of the Panama-flagged tanker Riti, which caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz. The cause of the fire is unclear. It is the second ship fire in the waterway in less than two days; on Thursday night, another ship caught fire northeast of Khasab, Oman.

The IRGC claimed it had stopped three tankers that, it said, were using "unauthorized routes", and that a supertanker carrying more than 2 million barrels exploded and caught fire while passing through such a route. The IRGC attributed the incidents to an accident or a mine strike. It is unclear whether the Riti was one of the three ships. The US military has rejected the IRGC's claims of mines being laid in the main shipping lanes.

A string of IRGC claims in a week of propaganda war

On the same day, the IRGC also claimed to have shot down a US MQM-170 reconnaissance drone over Qeshm, a claim no independent source has confirmed. Since the war began on 28 February, the Islamic Republic has taken control of much of the Strait of Hormuz, and last month it threatened to destroy ships that pass without its permission.

These events come as Qatari mediators returned to Tehran on Friday and Israel has asked the United States to allow strikes on Iran's energy facilities in the event of a new attack.

CENTCOM says all US unmanned vessels in the Middle East are intact and under control, and the IRGC's claim is false.