U.S. downplays Iran's seizure of unmanned sub in Hormuz Strait

File: A boat of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard at undisclosed location off the coast of Bandar Abbas, Iran August 2019.Nazanin Tabatabaee | WANA | ReutersThe U.S. military on Tuesday said an unmanned submersible that Iran reportedly seized in the Strait of Hormuz was "defective" and carried no sensitive data or classified equipment."An underwater drone operated by U.S. forces malfunctioned more than a day ago," U.S. Navy Captain Tim Hawkins told CNBC in a statement shared by U.S. Central Command.The drone "was surveying regional waters in support of ongoing operations," Hawkins said, adding, "U.S. operations in area waters continue."Iran's Revolutionary Guard had boasted earlier Tuesday that it trapped and captured "one of the most modern, intelligent, unmanned submarines of the American terrorist army at the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz," according to a translated post from Iranian state news outlet Fars. Fars later posted videos and images purporting to show the vessel out of the water.But Hawkins' statement insisted that the drone was hardly a crucial piece of cutting-edge military tech. Read more CNBC politics and policy coverage"The defective drone was an older model that...