UPDATED: The ‘acquisition’ was short lived. Iran has released the two boats along with the crew. It remains to be seen whether the Iranian Revolutionary Guard’s navy (IRGC-N) will clone the Riverine Command Boat (RCB), a variant of the Swedish CB90 family. My guess is that it won’t be long before we see the Iranian version of the classic Combat Boat 90 (CB90), “100% developed in Iran”, being paraded by the IRGC-N. Timing is everything. A couple of days after a Russian CB90 clone was posted on this blog operating in Crimea, more CB90s have gotten into non-Western hands. It is already all over the news, but Iran has seized two US Navy Riverine Command Boats, provisionally identified as RCB 802 and RCB 805, which strayed into its waters near the Farsi Island in the central Persian Gulf. There is no suggestion of malintent or spying and, amid nuclear deals, both countries have been quick to seek resolution. Fortunately the ten crew (9 males, 1 female) have been released.

The Iranian intelligence haul includes the communications equipment, plus basic operating manuals/checklists for the Riverine Command Boat:

Less concerning, various weaponary, ancilleries and personal equipment was seized.

RCB 802 and 805 in happier times: