An image released by the US Navy’s 5th Fleet shows some of the parts of Shahed-136 that were recovered from Pacific Zircon . (US 5th Fleet)

The US Navy’s 5th Fleet released evidence to support its assertion that an Iranian unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) was used to attack a tanker in the north of the Arabian Sea on 15 November.

“The aerial drone that hit the commercial tanker was identified as a Shahed-136 UAV, fitting a historical pattern of Iran’s increasing use of a lethal capability directly or through its proxies across the Middle East,” it said in a 22 November statement.

It released an image of the UAV remnants recovered after the attack and a diagram of the aircraft showing where several parts come from. Most of the components looked similar to ones used by smaller Shahed-131s recovered in Ukraine with the exception of a vertical stabiliser that is unique to the larger model.