U.S. Navy seizes thousands of assault rifles being smuggled from Iran to Yemen

The U.S. Navy seized over 2,100 assault rifles that were being smuggled on a fishing vessel from Iran to Yemen, the maritime service branch announced on Tuesday. 

Last Friday, a team from the USS Chinook, with the support of USS Monsoon and guided-missile destroyer USS The Sullivans, discovered and seized weapons from the vessel in the Gulf of Oman that was using a route that the Navy said is "historically used to traffic illicit cargo to the Houthis in Yemen."

In total, the U.S. discovered 2,116 AK-47 assault rifles being smuggled on the vessel, which was crewed by six Yemeni nationals, officials said. 

According to the Navy, "the direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer of weapons to the Houthis violates U.N. Security Council Resolution 2216 and international law."

The U.S. is currently in the process of repatriating the vessel and its crew, officials said. 

"This shipment is part of a continued pattern of destabilizing activity from Iran," Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, U.S. 5th Fleet and Combined Maritime Forces said. "These threats have our attention. We remain vigilant in detecting any maritime activity that impedes freedom of navigation or compromises regional security."

This is the third fishing ship in the past two months that the U.S. 5th Fleet has intercepted in the Gulf of Oman and discovered was smuggling lethal aid from Iran to Yemen, the Navy said. 

On December 1 forces seized more than 50 tons of ammunition rounds, fuses and propellants for rockets, and prior to that on November 8, forces intercepted more than 70 tons of ammonium perchlorate, an oxidizer commonly used to make rocket and missile fuel, as well as 100 tons of urea fertilizer, officials said.