The US military has sent a trove of confiscated Iranian ammunition to war-torn Ukraine, it announced Tuesday, as fears grow that direct aid from Washington to Kyiv will soon run out.
On Monday, the US dispatched more than 1.1 million rounds of 7.62mm rifle ammo to the Ukrainian armed forces.
“The US is committed to working with our allies and partners to counter the flow of Iranian lethal aid in the region by all lawful means including US and UN sanctions and through interdictions,” US Central Command said in a statement.
The materiel was seized in December 2022 en route to Houthi rebels in Yemen, in violation of international sanctions, per the release.
The US government obtained ownership of the firepower on July 20 after the Justice Department filed civil forfeiture claims against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
That same month, the DOJ said it had sought ownership of “over 9,000 rifles, 284 machine guns, approximately 194 rocket launchers, over 70 anti-tank guided missiles, and over 700,000 rounds of ammunition” in the Iranian weaponry tranche.
Meanwhile, officials are warning that funds to replenish Ukraine’s war supplies are running dangerously low.
There’s a meager $1.6 billion left to replace inventory and $5.4 billion worth that can be withdrawn from existing stocks, the Pentagon said this week.
“I think, given what we have left and given the pace at which we’ve been providing support — you’re talking perhaps a couple of months or so, roughly,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Tuesday when asked how long the US could continue supporting Ukraine at current funding levels.
So far, Congress has green-lit around $113 billion in both military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine since the Russia invaded in February 2022.
However, an additional aid installment of $6 billion was cut out of the latest government funding law enacted Saturday — and it’s unclear when or if that would be restored.
The shipment of Iranian weapons to Ukraine comes weeks after five Americans held in Tehranwere returned to US soil as part of a prisoner swap in which Washington unfroze about $6 billion in oil revenue.
US officials say Tehran has boosted Russia’s war effort by supplying the Kremlin with attack drones.
Russia has also publicly courted Iran’s fellow rogue state North Korea, seeking more weapons for its invasion in the face of Western sanctions.