Satellite Footage Reveals Iranian “Mothership” Drone Carriers Exist, Just Not Near New Jersey

Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh quickly rejected Republican Congressman Jefferson Van Drew of New Jersey’s claim that mysterious Iranian “mothership” drone carriers off the US East Coast were launching drone swarms into New Jersey airspace.

Singh told reporters on Wednesday afternoon, hours after Van Drew’s comments on Fox News, that “There is no Iranian ship off the coast of the United States … and there is no so-called ‘mothership’ launching drones toward the United States.”

Singh might be correct in her assessment because if Iran had drone carriers off the US East Coast, satellite intelligence firms would have likely published images of these carriers, sparking panic in corporate media—just as they did when Iranian warships sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to Venezuela several years ago.

It remains a mystery where the drones are originating from in New Jersey, one of the most restricted airspaces in the world, second only to the Baltimore-Washington metro area.

But what does not remain a mystery is that Iranian IRGC’s (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) drone carriers exist on the other side of the world.

Here’s more color on the IRGC “motherships” via Covert Shores:

The Iranian IRGC’s (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps) latest ambitious naval project, the drone carrier Shahid Bagheri (C-110-4), has sailed. The vessel appears to be on sea trials and may now be anchored outside Bandar Abbas harbor. Work on the The 240 metership, a converted merchant vessel, begun in 2022, and she was launched in 2023.

The ship’s distinctive outline is visible in Sentinel 2 satellite imagery from yesterday. Other sources suggest that the ship is still in the vicinity. The flight deck is now marked, possibly flight tests of some sort can be expected.

The ship has a unique angled flight deck on the port (left) side which heads across towards the starboard (right) side. This novel arrangement is a workaround to avoid the need to remove the pre-existing superstructure left over from the ship’s past life as a merchant vessel.

The angled flight deck, with a ski-jump ramp at the front, shows that the ship is intended for fixed-wing operations. The aircraft, highly likely primarily drones (UAVs), will be landing as well as taking off, so will not be one-way types. Previous Iranian drone carriers have only been able to launch large drones, not recover them.

The utility of such a ship in the IRGC’s fleet is open to question, but shows both the ambition of the country’s regime, and the trend towards drone carriers.

In a separate report, these drone carriers were spotted early last week in the Strait of Hormuz, 7,500 miles away from New Jersey. 

Iran has 2x drone ‘motherships’

Both were visible on 8 Dec 2024 in the anchorage in Bandar Abbas (~12,000km from NJ)

Both were visible on Sentinel 1 (SAR) on 11 Dec 2024 (today), in the same location

Both were visible on ultra high res on 3 Dec 2024 in the same location https://t.co/14oJl35AqR pic.twitter.com/DsXocBM4LD

— MT Anderson (@MT_Anderson) December 11, 2024

Sal Mercogliano, a professor at Campbell University and the host of the What Is Going On With Shipping? show on YouTube, provided additional color on Iran’s drone carriers and the likelihood that these vessels are not parked off the US East Coast. 

So, where are these drones coming from?