Iran recovered a US underwater vehicle on 9 September and published footage of it1. US Central Command said the drone was an older model that had malfunctioned and that it carried nothing classified2.
Neither statement contradicts the other, which is unusual for this conflict. Unmanned underwater vehicles are used for mine hunting and seabed survey, they operate at the limit of their endurance, and losing one to a flat battery or a failed control surface is routine rather than remarkable. Navies plan for it, which is also why the sensitive payloads travel on newer hulls.
Two Iranian officials briefed The New York Times on 1 August that Iranian drones hit a gas vessel at Egypt's Damietta port, while the foreign minister called the same attack an Israeli false flag. Tehran gains a picture this time rather than a deniable claim, and it gains no hardware worth the name. A physical object, filmed in daylight, held by Iranian personnel, is the one item in that output that cannot be disputed, whatever it turns out to contain.
