The United States Navy has shared photos of an illicit arms shipment that it stated it discovered aboard an intercepted ship in the Arabian Sea. The images were taken on Saturday.
Arabian Sea Weapons
The announcement regarding the seizure of an arms shipment of thousands of machine guns, assault weapons, and sniper rifles concealed aboard a ship in the Arabian Sea was made on Sunday. The ship was reportedly bound for Yemen in support of the nation's Houthi rebels. According to an American defense official, the Navy's earlier investigation discovered the vessel originated from Iran. This again ties the Islamic Republic to arming the Houthis, notwithstanding a UN arms embargo.
According to the Navy, the cruiser USS Monterey halted the stateless dhow on May 6 amid a routine operation to verify its registry. A United States Coast Guard Advanced Interdiction Team designated on the Navy ship then rode the dhow and discovered the stash of weapons.
The photographs displayed thousands of weapons laid out across the USS Monterey's rear deck, part of the Navy's 5th Fleet, placed in Bahrain's headquarters. The 5th Fleet released a statement indicating that the weapons included numerous advanced Russian-made anti-tank guided missiles and thousands of Type 56 assault rifles from China. These had hundreds of Kalashnikov sniper rifles, machine guns, and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, reported The Nation Thailand.
According to a statement by the Navy, the source and purported destination of the arms shipment were under probing. It also indicated the USS Monterey, a guided-missile cruiser, had halted the ship amid a routine boarding, reported BBC.
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Lt. Cmdr. Pete Pagano, a spokesperson for the Navy's Fifth Fleet, said they had done three similar seizures in the past few years. The guided-missile destroyer USS Winston Churchill halted two dhows off Somali's coast on February 12. Weapons were onboard, including crew-served weapons, rocket-propelled grenade launchers, and small arms. The cruiser USS Normandy halted a dhow in the Arabian Sea and seized missile components on February 9, 2020. Lastly, the destroyer USS Forrest Sherman discovered missile components on a dhow it halted in the Arabian Sea on November 25, 2019.
According to the Navy, the weapons were detected amid a routine flag verification check of a stateless dhow cruising in international waters. Members of the USS Monterey's US Coast Guard Advanced Interdiction Team participated in the inspection.
According to Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) on Sunday, "That the US Navy seized another shipment of Iranian weapons bound for Yemen should come as no surprise." A United Nations Security Council Resolution in 2015 imposed a weapons embargo on the Houthis, reported The Washington Post.
Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately answer a request for comment. However, Tehran has denied earlier providing the rebels with weapons. The seizure, one of many amid the years-long war in Yemen, arrives as the United States and other countries attempt to end a conflict that spawned one of the globe's worst humanitarian disasters.
