US Navy seizes Iranian weapons bound for Yemen

Marines found 1,400 Kalashnikov-type rifles and 226,600 cartridges

i24NEWS
i24NEWS
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Service members from patrol coastal ship USS Typhoon, inventory an illicit shipment of weapons while aboard a stateless fishing vessel transiting international waters in the North Arabian Sea, December 20, 2021.
Service members from patrol coastal ship USS Typhoon, inventory an illicit shipment of weapons while aboard a stateless fishing vessel transiting international waters in the North Arabian Sea, December 20, 2021.US Navy via AP

The US Navy said it seized a large cache of assault rifles and ammunition smuggled from an Iranian fishing vessel likely bound for Yemen, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

US Navy patrol vessels discovered the weapons aboard a stateless fishing vessel in an operation that began Monday in the northern Arabian Sea off Oman and Pakistan.

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The Marines found 1,400 Kalashnikov-type rifles and 226,600 rounds, as well as five Yemeni crew members.

Western countries and UN experts have repeatedly accused Iran of smuggling illicit weapons and technology into Yemen over the years, fueling the civil war and allowing the Houthis to fire missiles and drones over neighboring Saudi Arabia.

Iran, however, denies having armed the Houthis.

"The direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer of weapons to the Houthis violates UN Security Council resolutions and US sanctions," the US Navy said in a statement.

The Iranian mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the interception of the weapons.

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