The U.S. Navy helped French naval forces intercept and seize thousands of assault rifles and half a million rounds of ammunition coming from Iran and heading to Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels, officials said on Feb. 1.
In a statement, the U.S. military’s Central Command (CENTCOM) said the seizure occurred on Jan. 15 in the Gulf of Oman along routes “historically used to traffic weapons unlawfully from Iran to Yemen.”
Officials said more than 3,000 assault rifles, 578,000 rounds of ammunition, and 23 advanced anti-tank guided missiles were recovered in cooperation with international naval partners.
“The seizure is one of four significant illicit cargo interdictions over the past two months that have prevented more than 5,000 weapons and 1.6 million rounds of ammunition from reaching Yemen,” CENTCOM said.
Weapons seized from Iran by U.S. Central Command on Jan. 15, 2023. (U.S. Navy)Iran did not publicly acknowledge the seizure. On Twitter, CENTCOM shared a photo of the seized rifles and ammunition that looked similar to those previously captured by U.S. forces that were tied to Tehran.
Yemen has been embroiled in a civil war since 2015 that has caused one of the worst humanitarian crises in history and claimed the lives of over 377,000 people, according to the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT).
Iran has denied that it backs Houthis, a rebel group that seized Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, in September 2014 and overthrew the internationally recognized government, against a Saudi-led coalition aided by the United States.
However, the U.N., independent experts, and Western nations have all traced seized weaponry—ranging from night-vision scopes, rifles, and missiles—back to Tehran after finding them on detained vessels.
Arms sales and transfers to Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels are in violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2216 and international law.
The latest weapons seizure comes after CENTCOM on Jan. 10 said its forces had intercepted a ship in the Gulf of Oman four days earlier that it believes came from Iran and was bound for Yemen’s Houthi rebels. The U.S. Navy seized more than 2,000 AK-47 assault rifles from that ship, according to officials.
A missile that the U.S. Department of Defense says is confirmed as a “Qiam” ballistic missile manufactured in Iran by its distinctively Iranian nine fueling ports and that the Pentagon says was fired by Houthi rebels from Yemen into Saudi Arabia on July 22, 2017 is seen on display at a military base in Washington, on Dec. 13, 2017. (Jim Bourg/Reuters)In the Jan. 10 statement, Gen. Michael ‘Erik’ Kurilla, CENTCOM commander, said that the “illegal flow of weapons through international waterways has a destabilizing effect on the region.”
Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, U.S. 5th Fleet, and Combined Maritime Forces, added that the seizure of weapons was part of a “continued pattern of destabilizing activity from Iran.”
“These threats have our attention. We remain vigilant in detecting any maritime activity that threatens freedom or compromises regional security,” he added.
According to officials, CENTCOM stopped 9,000 illegal weapons from reaching Yemen in 2021, which marks a 200 percent increase in the number of weapons seized over the previous year. In 2022, in collaboration with partner forces, CENTCOM seized weapons components for the same type of cruise missiles that were used to launch attacks against Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates earlier in the year.
The seizure of weapons and ammunition originating from Iran and heading to Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels also comes after a ceasefire expired in October despite diplomatic efforts to renew it. A number of sporadic attacks have occurred since then, prompting alarm among experts who fear that the civil war could escalate.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.