What does Iran’s use of drones against ships mean for the future?

If Iran has reached a new level of precision drone strikes and is using them against shipping in deadly attacks, this is a major milestone.

Tensions are mounting between Israel and Iran after a ship was attacked off the coast of Oman on Friday.

That same day, Israel’s Foreign Minister slammed Iran on Friday as an exporter of terrorism, destruction, instability and a threat to freedom of navigation. Pro-Iran social media accounts and a report from Al-Alam TV has said Iran carried out the attack on the ship in response to an airstrike in Syria that Iran blames on Israel.

Now details of the attack on the 600-foot long Mercer Street tanker have revealed that drones were used to spread death and destruction as two were killed in the attack. The New York Times quoted two officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, saying that “The attack appeared to have been carried out by several unmanned Iranian drones that crashed into living quarters underneath the ship’s command center, or bridge.”

This looks like a serious and complex attack that is not just a major escalation, but a new use of Iran drone technology.

Iran has been increasing its drone abilities in recent years. It has a large number of militarized drones such as the Shahed, Mohajer and Ababil lines of drones. Iran also recently showcased a new drone named after Gaza. Iran claims its drones have long ranges, stretching to more than 1,000 miles and that some can carry missiles while others can be pre-programmed to carry out precision attacks by slamming into targets.

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For instance, Iranian-style kamikaze drones have been developed by Hamas in Gaza where they are called Shehab and by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen who use the Qasef drone. The Houthis have terrorized Saudi Arabia with these drones. The drones carry a warhead in their body and they are programmed to strike a target using a kind of gyroscope and guidance system. US and regional Gulf reports have linked drones across the region to Iranian construction and blueprints via details such as gyroscopes.