DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The US military said on Thursday it had seized an Iranian weapons shipment in January that was destined for Yemen’s Houthi rebels who have been attacking vessels in the Red Sea.

The US navy “seized advanced conventional weapons and other lethal aid originating in Iran and bound to Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen from a vessel in the Arabian Sea on January 28,” the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said on social media.

The shipment contained over 200 packages carrying missile components, explosives and other devices, the statement said.

CENTCOM noted, “The direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer of such aid violates UN Security Council Resolution 2216 (as extended and renewed by resolutions 2675 and 2707).”

“This is yet another example of Iran’s malign activity in the region,” CENTCOM chief Michael Erik Kurilla was quoted as saying.

“Their continued supply of advanced conventional weapons to the Houthis… continues to undermine the safety of international shipping and the free flow of commerce,” he added.

The Iran-backed Houthi rebels, who control much of war-torn Yemen, have been attacking vital Red Sea shipping lanes since November in a campaign they say is in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza amid the Israel-Hamas war.

Their attacks have triggered reprisals by US and British forces, including a fresh wave of US strikes on Houthi-controlled areas on Wednesday.

The Houthi attacks have prompted some shipping companies to detour around southern Africa to avoid the Red Sea, which normally carries about 12 percent of global maritime trade.

The UN Conference on Trade and Development warned late last month that the volume of commercial traffic passing through the Suez Canal had fallen more than 40 percent in the previous two months.

War erupted on October 7 when the Palestinian terror group Hamas led a devastating cross-border attack from the Gaza Strip that killed 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians. Terrorists also abducted 253 people of all ages, who were taken as hostages to Gaza.

Israel responded to the attack with a military offensive to destroy Hamas, remove it from power in Gaza, and free the hostages, over half of whom remain captive.