The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has captured two more American MQM-170 reconnaissance drones in the skies south of Qeshm Island, bringing the total number of this type seized by its forces to four.
In a statement issued Monday night, the IRGC Public Relations Office said its Aerospace Division grounded the reconnaissance drones using advanced electronic warfare systems.
The statement added that the new capture increases the total number of US MQM-170 drones seized by elite IRGC officers to four.
The IRGC further announced that its forces had tracked and destroyed the 55th advanced American MQ-9 drone in the airspace east of the Strait of Hormuz.
A newly developed air defense system belonging to the Aerospace Force, operating under the country’s integrated air defense network, carried out the interception.
“The invading American enemy has once again failed to achieve its objectives through the deployment of such drones,” the statement said. “By the grace of God, another chapter of defeat and failure has been added to the black track record of the terrorist commander of the US Central Command, Brad Cooper.”
The IRGC noted that Iranian forces have already captured 14 American MQ-1 drones as well. These successive operations underscore the growing effectiveness of Iran’s indigenous electronic warfare and multilayered air defense architecture in neutralizing hostile unmanned platforms without reliance on conventional kinetic means alone.
The latest seizures follow earlier successful recoveries of MQM-170 drones by IRGC Navy and Aerospace units in the western Strait of Hormuz and over Qeshm in recent days.
The aircraft, manufactured by US firm Griffon Aerospace and originally designed for aerial target and decoy roles, have been employed by American forces to probe Iranian air defenses along the Persian Gulf coast.
Since the start of the US-Israeli war of aggression against the Islamic Republic in February, Iranian air defenses have destroyed or captured dozens of American MQ-9 Reaper and MQ-1 drones, repeatedly demonstrating the vulnerability of Washington’s high-value unmanned assets over the strategic waterway. The repeated failures have constrained US aerial surveillance and strike options in the region.
The IRGC’s statement said the operations are further proof of the failure of American attempts to achieve dominance through drone deployments in the sensitive Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz theater.
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