An Iranian ship snatched 2 US Navy drone boats and tried to hide them under a tarp before eventually releasing them overboard: US official

• An Iranian ship snatched two US Navy drone boats from the Red Sea on Friday, a US official said.
• Iran's Navy tried to hide the drones under a tarp, initially denying it had them before ultimately returning them.

An Iranian ship seized two US Navy drone boats on Thursday and tried to hide them from US air assets by putting them under a tarp. The Iranians eventually released them overboard the next day following intervention by the US military, a US official told Insider.

The Iranian destroyer Jamaran captured the two drones and pulled them out of the water in the Red Sea and then examined them on deck, the Associated Press reported, citing state television footage.

A US official told Insider that the Navy received indications from the drones that they had been seized and responded to the incident by sending ships to establish bridge-to-bridge communications with the Iranian vessel.

In a statement released after initial publication, US Naval Forces Central Command said that the responding ships were the guided-missile destroyers USS Nitze and USS Delbert D. Black. A MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter was also sent out in response.

When the Iranians noticed the helicopter in the air, sailors on the Jamaran tried to hide the captured US unmanned assets under a tarp, the official said.

After initially denying that it was in possession of US property, the crew of the Iranian naval vessel put them back in the water by releasing them overboard, the official explained.

The drones were Saildrone Explorers — commercially-available unmanned surface vessels that are equipped with cameras, senors, and radars to collect data.

Iranian state television claimed the country's navy found the drones "abandoned in the international maritime routes," the AP reported.

In its statement, NAVCENT said the two drones were "unarmed and taking unclassified photos of the surrounding environment" and "posed no risk to naval traffic." It said the drones had been operating around the southern part of the Red Sea for over 200 consecutive days without any problems.

Friday's incident is the second this week that involved an Iran-linked ship trying to capture with US Navy property in international waters.

On Tuesday, the US Navy successfully prevented Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from trying to capture a Saildrone Explorer in the Persian Gulf.

US Naval Forces Central Command said the IRGC support ship Shahid Baziar was seen towing the unmanned surface vessel "in an attempt to detain it." US Navy coastal patrol ship USS Thunderbolt and an MH-60S Sea Hawk helicopter were dispatched to the area in response. The IRGC ship disconnected the tow line and left.

Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of US Naval Forces Central Command, US 5th Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces, slammed the IRGC's actions earlier this week as "flagrant, unwarranted, and inconsistent with the behavior of a professional maritime force."

IRGC boats have had previous run-ins with the US Navy and Coast Guard, sometimes sailing dangerously close. In response, the military has fired warning shots and sent radio warnings.

Ryan Pickrell contributed reporting.

Update: This article was updated with additional information following the release of a statement from US Naval Forces Central Command/5th Fleet.