Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. Iranian attacks in the waterways of the Middle East and elsewhere in the region "have the attention of everyone" as tensions rise over Tehran's advancing nuclear program, the head of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet said Tuesday. Vice Adm. Brad Cooper also told The Associated Press that he's seen a rise in what he described as Iran's "malign activities" in the region over his two years leading the Bahrain-based 5th Fleet. While Cooper pointed to recent seizures of weapons by American and allied forces in the region as a success, he acknowledged that Iran has been able to carry out drone attacks targeting shipping in the Mideast and other assaults in the region.

According to information published by the US DoD on November 23, 2022, U.S. 5th Fleet began a three-week unmanned and artificial intelligence integration event in Bahrain that will involve employing new platforms in the region for the first time. Various unmanned systems sit on display in Manama, Bahrain. The event, called Digital Horizon, will advance the command's efforts to integrate new unmanned technologies while establishing the world's first unmanned surface vessel fleet by end of next summer. U.S. 5th Fleet's efforts are focused on improving what U.S. and regional navies are able to see above, on and below the water. Digital Horizon will include 17 industry partners bringing 15 different types of systems, 10 of which will operate with U.S. 5th Fleet for the first time.

Iran's recent seizure of unmanned US Navy boats shined a light on a pioneering Pentagon program to develop networks of air, surface and underwater drones for patrolling large regions, meshing their surveillance with artificial intelligence. The year-old program operates numerous unmanned surface vessels, or USVs, in the waters around the Arabian peninsula, gathering data and images to be beamed back to collection centers in the Gulf. The program operated without incident until Iranian forces tried to grab three seven-meter Saildrone Explorer USVs in two incidents, on August 29-30 and September 1. In the first, a ship of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps hooked a line to a Saildrone in the Gulf and began towing it away, only releasing it when a US Navy Patrol boat and helicopter sped to the scene. In the second, an Iranian destroyer picked up two Saildrones in the Red Sea, hoisting them aboard.

Iran's recent seizure of unmanned US Navy boats shined a light on a pioneering Pentagon program to develop networks of air, surface and underwater drones for patrolling large regions, meshing their surveillance with artificial intelligence. The year-old program operates numerous unmanned surface vessels, or USVs, in the waters around the Arabian peninsula, gathering data and images to be beamed back to collection centers in the Gulf. The program operated without incident until Iranian forces tried to grab three seven-meter Saildrone Explorer USVs in two incidents, on August 29-30 and September 1. In the first, a ship of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps hooked a line to a Saildrone in the Gulf and began towing it away, only releasing it when a US Navy Patrol boat and helicopter sped to the scene. In the second, an Iranian destroyer picked up two Saildrones in the Red Sea, hoisting them aboard.

Fox News chief Washington correspondent Mike Emanuel reports on an Iranian warship intercepting American drones only to return them the following morning on'Special Report.' Iran has armed 51 cities and towns with a civil defense system aimed to respond to any foreign attack as tensions with the U.S. have mounted in recent weeks. The defenses will enable Iran's arms forces to "identify and monitor threats by using round-the-clock software according to the type of the threat and risk," Deputy Defense Minister General Mehdi Farahi said Saturday, according to a Reuters report. "These days, depending on the strength of countries, the form of battles has become more complicated," he added. Farahi did not name any specific countries Tehran could be targeted by but noted that conventional warfare has largely been replaced by cyber, biological and radioactive attack tactics.

Iran's navy has released two American surface drones hours after seizing them in the Red Sea, accusing the unmanned vessels of jeopardising maritime safety, Iranian state television reports, in the second such incident this week. "The [Iranian navy] frigate Jamaran seized the two vessels on Thursday to prevent any possible accident after issuing warnings to the US fleet. After international shipping lanes were secured, the two vessels were released in a safe area," the state TV reported on Friday. Footage appeared to show more than a dozen Iranian navy personnel pushing two drones into the sea from the deck of their vessel – the latest maritime incident involving the United States Navy's new drone fleet in the Middle East as negotiations over Tehran's nuclear deal with the world powers hang in the balance. The state TV said an Iranian naval flotilla found "several unmanned spying vessels abandoned in the international maritime routes" and "after warning an American destroyer twice, seized the two drone vessels to prevent possible accidents".

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has seized an American sea drone in the Gulf and tried to tow it away, only releasing the unmanned vessel when a US Navy warship and helicopter approached, US officials have said. The incident on Tuesday marks the first time the Navy's Middle East-based 5th Fleet's new drone task force has been targeted by Iran. While the interception ended without incident, it comes amid growing tensions between the United States and Iran as negotiations over the tattered Iranian nuclear deal hang in the balance. The U.S. Navy prevented a support ship from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGCN) from capturing an unmanned surface vessel operated by the U.S. 5th Fleet in the Arabian Gulf, Aug. 29-30. The IRGC's Shahid Baziar warship attached a line to the Saildrone Explorer in the central part of the Gulf in international waters late Monday night, said Commander Timothy Hawkins, a 5th Fleet spokesman.

An Iranian ship seized an American military unmanned research vessel in the Gulf but released it after a US Navy patrol boat and helicopter were deployed to the location, the Pentagon said Tuesday. The US Central Command's 5th Fleet said a support ship from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, the Shahid Baziar, was spotted towing the seven-meter (23-foot) Saildrone Explorer unmanned surface vessel (USV) late Monday. The US naval drone, equipped with an array of sensors, radars and cameras, was in international waters collecting navigation and other unspecified data, the 5th Fleet said in a statement. When the Iranian vessel was seen towing the unmanned boat, US forces sent the USS Thunderbolt coastal patrol ship, which was operating nearby, to the scene. In addition, an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter based in Bahrain flew to the location.

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. The U.S. Navy stopped an Iranian ship from taking an American sea drone in the Arabian Gulf Monday night. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy was in the process of towing the drone, which belongs to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet at 11 p.m. local time when the American Navy immediately sent out the nearby Navy coastal ship USS Thunderbolt. The 5th Fleet also repeatedly called Iranian officials, who then let the drone go.

Fox News Flash top headlines are here. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. Facing a growing threat from China, the Navy envisions drone ships keeping an electronic eye on enemy forces across the vast Pacific Ocean, extending the reach of firepower, and keeping sailors out of harm's way. The Navy is speeding development of those robotic ships as an affordable way to keep pace with China's growing fleet while vowing not to repeat costly shipbuilding blunders from recent years. The four largest drone ships are being used together this summer during a multination naval exercise in the Pacific Ocean.