Iran Seizes, Then Releases Two U.S. Drones, Officials Say

In that case, the Navy said it spotted an Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps naval support ship towing a Saildrone Explorer. The American seamen told the Iranians that the drone was U.S. government property and asked for it back. With a U.S. Fifth Fleet MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter hovering above, the Iranians disconnected the towing line they had attached to that drone and eventually departed the area, according to a U.S. Navy release at the time. The Navy resumed operations "without incident," the release said. The United States and Iran often tangle in the Persian Gulf -- which the United States calls the Arabian Gulf -- and in the Red Sea and the Arabian Sea.