US military says: Iran attacked Mercer Street tanker with three suicide drones

US military says: Iran attacked Mercer Street tanker with three suicide drones The US shared photo evidence on Friday that it said showed Iran built the kamikaze drone used in a deadly attack on the Israeli-linked tanker Mercer Street off the coast of Oman on July 30, an attack that has raised tensions in the region. An expert explosive investigative team from the US Navy aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan analyzed recovered pieces of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), or drone, used in the fatal attack on the tanker, concluding that they were nearly identical to previous examples from Iranian one-way attack UAVs, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement. "The use of Iranian designed and produced one way attack 'kamikaze' UAVs is a growing trend in the region," CENTCOM said. "They are actively used by Iran and their proxies against coalition forces in the region, to include targets in Saudi Arabia and Iraq." There were two failed drone attacks on the tanker on July 29, and the crew managed to recover small remnants of at least one of the drones, CENTCOM said. In a successful follow-on attack on July 30, a drone - armed with a military-grade explosive - was deliberately crashed into the vessel. Two crewmembers, a Romanian citizen who was the master of the ship and a British citizen who was part of the security team, were killed. "The explosive detonation following the UAV impact created an approximately 6-foot diameter hole in the topside of the pilot house and badly damaged the interior," CENTCOM said.