The US Central Command has said it had collected and analyzed substantial evidence that the July 29 attack on the HV Mercer Street in international waters in the Arabian Sea off the coast of Oman was carried out by an Iranian drone loaded with a military-grade explosive.
CentCom said three one-way drones laden with explosives were targeted in the attack, but the first two failed to strike the ship and plunged into the sea.
Remnants of one of those were retrieved by investigators.
The third drone struck the ship, exploding and leaving a six-foot (two-meter) hole on the ceiling of the bridge.
CentCom said the drone had been packed with the explosive RDX, and pieces recovered from it "were nearly identical to previously-collected examples from Iranian one-way attack UAVs," or unmanned aerial vehicles.
"US experts concluded based on the evidence that this UAV was produced in Iran," they said.
CentCom did not say where the drones were launched from, but said: "The distance from the Iranian coast to the locations of the attacks was within the range of documented Iranian one-way attack UAVs."
The Mercer Street is an oil products tanker operated by Israeli-controlled Zodiac Maritime.
Friday’s military analysis was released concurrently with a statement from the G-7 foreign ministers condemning the attack that killed a Briton and a Romanian.
The Pentagon said US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke Friday with Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz about the incident.
Both "expressed concern about Iran's proliferation and employment of one-way attack UAVs across the region and committed to continue cooperating closely on regional security," the Pentagon said in a statement.
