IRGC uses unarmed spotters in small boats to identify U.S. naval targets after radar losses, Reuters reports

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has begun using unarmed spotters in small boats to identify potential targets, including U.S. naval vessels, after U.S. strikes destroyed much of Iran’s radar capability, a U.S. military official told Reuters.

The official said the shift is part of a change in Iranian tactics around the Strait of Hormuz as Tehran increases surveillance and attacks on shipping.

In one previously unreported incident last week, U.S. forces determined that Iranian spotters aboard a dhow were relaying targeting information to the IRGC. American forces confronted the vessel, ordered those aboard to abandon it and then destroyed the boat.

No casualties were reported in the incident.

Reuters reported that attacks on commercial vessels in and around the Strait of Hormuz have recently increased, with at least five incidents recorded within 48 hours. The U.S. Navy-led Joint Maritime Information Center continues to rate the threat to merchant shipping in the strait as “severe.”