On December 20, the U.S. Fifth Fleet seized approximately 1,400 AK-47 assault rifles and 226,600 rounds of ammunition from a fishing boat in the northern Arabian Sea. A statement from the U.S. Navy on Wednesday evening indicated that U.S. Coast Guard personnel discovered the weapons during a search. The illegal arms and ammunition were later transported for examination.
The preliminary assessment suggested that the boat originated from Iran and traveled through international waters along a route historically used for the illegal smuggling of weapons to the Houthi movement in Yemen. The statement highlighted that the direct or indirect supply, sale, or transfer of weapons to the Houthis violates United Nations Security Council resolutions and U.S. sanctions. According to the statement, the five-member crew of the boat identified themselves as Yemenis.
On December 5, U.S. officials stated that a U.S. Navy warship in the northern Arabian Sea seized a large shipment of weapons from a boat containing Iranian missile parts destined for the Houthi militias in Yemen.
In response, Yemeni Information Minister Muammar Al-Eryani regarded the U.S. Navy's announcement of seizing a new shipment of Iranian weapons on its way to the Houthi militia as "an outright Iranian challenge to the will of the international community." Al-Eryani affirmed in a statement that the Iranian regime's continued smuggling of arms to the Houthi militia constitutes an extension of its ongoing aggression against Yemen since the moment of the coup, perpetuating its destructive agenda and expansionist project in the region.
He noted that the Iranian regime has played a crucial role in undermining efforts for a ceasefire and establishing peace in Yemen, pushing its Houthi tool to escalate the pace of war in the Ma'rib fronts, and continuing the bloodshed and humanitarian suffering of the Yemenis as part of its policies to spread chaos and terrorism, destabilize the region, and threaten international interests.
The Yemeni Information Minister called on the international community and the permanent member states of the Security Council to fulfill their responsibilities and pressure the Tehran regime to halt arms smuggling to the Houthis, which contravenes the principles of the United Nations Charter and relevant international resolutions regarding the Yemeni crisis, particularly resolution 2216, and to work on designating the militia as a terrorist group.
