DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) – The U.S. Navy has seized a large arsenal of weapons smuggled by two small ships off the coast of Somalia, it announced on Tuesday amid the crippling war in nearby Yemen.
Among the weapons seized last week by the USS Winston S. Churchill by the guided missile destroyer in the Indian Ocean were thousands of Kalashnikov-style rifles, light machine guns, heavy sniper rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and manned weapons, said the Navy.
In its statement, the 5th Fleet in the Bahrain-based fleet did not identify the source of the smuggled weapons or disclose their destination. But a U.S. defense official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss details of the seizure said there were some indications that the weapons were tied to war-torn Yemen across the Gulf of Aden. Authorities continued their investigation, the official added.
Over the course of two days, the destroyer stopped the two ships and searched for illegal cargo as part of the Navy’s routine maritime security patrol in the region. Those who were on board the vessels were released after the operation, he added.
A short video released by the Navy showed U.S. sailors investigating one of the intercepted dhows, a traditional ship that usually sails the waters of the Persian Gulf region while helicopters circle overhead. Photographs of the smuggling stone, an example of the much larger amount of weapons, showed rows of what appeared to be new Kalashnikovs wrapped in plastic and piles of rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
“These operations prevent rogue actors from distributing their lethal aid illegally,” said Cmdr. Timothy Shanley, commander of the Churchill.
The collection of weapons aboard the dhows reflects other shipments banned by the U.S. and related forces in the region, which was later en route to Yemen, where Iranian-backed Houthi rebels form a Saudi-led military coalition to control the had land. since 2015. Yemen has been flooded with handguns smuggled into poorly controlled ports over years of conflict.
Analysts say the pattern of the shipment is similar to the cases where alleged Iranian smuggling to Yemen took place in the past. Last June, for example, Saudi naval forces seized a dhow with anti-tank missiles and thousands of assault rifles allegedly manufactured in Iran. According to a recent report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime, they were on their way to Yemen via smuggling networks in Somalia.
“The unique blend of material is consistent with several interdictions over the years that have been definitively linked to Iran,” Tim Michetti, an expert on illegal weapons flow, said of the seizure unveiled Tuesday.
“Along with items identical to those recovered from Iranian groups in the region,” he added, the range provides a strong indication of the origin of a transfer. ‘
Arab countries, experts from the West and the United Nations claim that Iran has armed the Houthis with everything from assault rifles to ballistic missiles, something that Tehran has long denied despite the contrary. The 5th Fleet has repeatedly accused Iran of smuggling weapons across the Arabian Sea to the Houthis, who own Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, and much of the north of the country.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The ban comes at a fine time in Yemen and the wider region. Houthi forces have been aggressively pushing into the last remaining stronghold of Marib of Yemen in Yemen in recent weeks. Tensions are rising between Iran and the United States over the shattered nuclear deal in 2015 that sought to limit Iran’s uranium enrichment in exchange for sanctions easing.
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Associated Press author Jon Gambrell contributed to this report.