A federal jury on Thursday convicted the Pakistani captain of a weapons-smuggling boat intercepted in January last year by U.S. forces in the Arabian Sea, a mission that led to the deaths of two Navy SEALs, on charges of transporting Iranian advanced weaponry to the Houthis in Yemen and threatening fellow crew members.
Muhammad Pahlawan, 49, was found guilty in the Eastern District of Virginia of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists, supporting Iran’s weapons of mass destruction program, transporting explosive devices intended to harm others, and witness intimidation. His sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 22, and he faces up to 20 years in prison on most counts.
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U.S. forces from the USS LEWIS B. PULLER, including Navy SEALs and Coast Guard Maritime Security Response Team East, boarded Pahlawan’s unflagged vessel off the coast of Somalia on Jan. 11, 2024. During the operation, Special Warfare Officer Christopher Chambers slipped into the water. Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Nathan Gage Ingram dove in to rescue him, but both were lost at sea. Despite extensive efforts, their bodies were never recovered.
A search of the dhow, the type of vessel, revealed Iranian-made advanced conventional weaponry, including ballistic missile warheads, anti-ship cruise missile components, and propulsion and guidance systems. U.S. officials said the seized weapons were of the same type used by Houthi forces in attacks against U.S. military and commercial ships following Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
According to evidence presented at trial, Pahlawan coordinated multiple smuggling missions with two Iranian nationals affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps: brothers Shahab and Yunus Mir’kazei. Prosecutors said Pahlawan received payments from the brothers, prepared the vessel for transport, and carried out nighttime ship-to-ship transfers of weaponry from Iranian ports to the Houthis via Somali waters.
During the January interdiction, Pahlawan lied to U.S. officials, directed his crew to do the same, and threatened their lives and the safety of their families.
FOUR CHARGED IN DEATHS OF TWO NAVY SEALS BOARDING SHIP CARRYING IRANIAN-MADE WEAPONS TO YEMEN
The U.S. government previously moved to dismiss all charges against two of Pahlawan’s co-defendants, Ghufran Ullah and Izhar Muhammad, in November 2024 and subsequently designated them material witnesses. A third co-defendant, Mohammad Mazhar, remains charged with making false statements to federal officers and has requested a separate trial.
The case was prosecuted in the Eastern District of Virginia, a hub for national security prosecutions due to its proximity to Washington and experience with terrorism-related cases. Prosecutors asserted extraterritorial jurisdiction based on U.S. laws allowing for prosecution of crimes against U.S. interests abroad, particularly the illegal provision of military-grade equipment to foreign terrorist groups.