TEHRAN: The Iranian Navy briefly seized two "surveillance vessels" of the US Navy in the Red Sea, state media reported.

The Iranian Navy's destroyer Jamaran reportedly came into contact with US unmanned surveillance vessels on the international trade route on Thursday while conducting a counterterrorism mission in the Red Sea, according to sources cited on Friday.

The Jamaran destroyer "seized two (surveillance) vessels after twice alerting the American side to avoid potential incidents," it claimed. The 84th Naval Group of the (Iranian) Army released the two ships in a safe area after safeguarding the international maritime route, and it issued a warning to the American fleet not to repeat similar incidents.

For the past two months, the Iranian Army's 84th Navy Group has been deployed to the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.

According to the semi-official Tasnim News , Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps Navy momentarily took control of a wayward US unmanned ship in the Gulf on Tuesday to protect a commercial route and avoid mishaps.

"The vessels posed no risk to naval traffic and had been operating in the general vicinity of the Southern Red Sea for more than 200 straight days without incident," the Navy stated in a statement confirming the incident's specifics. The Navy also sent an MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter to the area in addition to the two destroyers.

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