Has Iran captured an unmanned US submarine? What we know

What the report says

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said its naval forces seized an unmanned US underwater vessel near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz, escalating tensions around a waterway central to global energy shipments. Al Jazeera reported that Iranian state media identified the craft as Dive-LD, an autonomous underwater vehicle made by California-based Anduril Industries, while Washington said the vehicle had malfunctioned the previous day. The incident was described as happening in early September 2026, with Iran presenting it as an intelligence and operational operation.

The report said Dive-LD is a reusable autonomous submersible designed for surveillance, seabed mapping and mine detection, with a length of about six metres and an advertised maximum depth of 6,000 metres. Anduril has said the system is built for risky missions and that losing one is an expected possibility. A Pentagon spokesperson, as quoted by Reuters, said the vehicle was a defective older model used to survey regional waters and did not carry sensitive equipment.

The claimed capture comes amid a wider exchange of attacks between Iran and US forces in and around the Gulf. Al Jazeera said the US military had struck Iranian oil carriers, while Iran said it had attacked US vessels and tankers. The Strait of Hormuz remains strategically important because a large share of the world’s oil and gas once moved through it, making surveillance and naval activity there closely watched by both sides.