The Iranian navy’s Jamaran destroyer intercepted two American maritime drones and then released them in a safe area in the Red Sea—and as means of preventing naval accidents, Tasnim reported.

The destroyer encountered the “data collecting” vessels during a routine operation aimed at securing shipping routes and confronting piracy and maritime terrorism, the Iranian navy said in a statement.

The Iranian warship then called on the American authorities in charge of the sail drones to change the vessels’ direction “in order to prevent accidents and naval collisions,” added the statement.

The destroyer, however, encountered the drones again, with its calls on the American officials to control the vessels’ behavior going unheeded on several occasions.

Having seized control of the American vessels, the Iranian ship then resorted to releasing them in a “safe area” towards “establishing naval security,” after which American naval units, which were present there, intercepted the drones.