US Navy Seizes Thousands Of Rocket Launchers, Machine Guns And Sniper Rifles From Iran For Yemen's Houthis

JAKARTA - Iran has reportedly shipped thousands of weapons seized in the Arabian Sea to Yemen, a UN report found on Sunday.

A draft document by a panel of UN Security Council experts on Yemen said wooden boats and land transport departed from Iran's Jask port on the Sea of Oman to smuggle Chinese, Russian, and Iranian weapons into Yemen.

The report said the US military had been trying to stop smuggling in the area for years.

Citing The National News on January 9, The Wall Street Journal revealed a UN report citing interviews with the Yemeni crew, as well as data from navigational instruments found on board.

"US officials say Jask has been used as a departure point for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps for some time, but the UN report provides the first detailed evidence of a specific arms shipment linked to the port," the paper said.

The weaponry includes rocket launchers, machine guns, and sniper rifles, which have been seized by the US Navy in recent months.

The US Navy intercepted two large Iranian weapons storage bins from two ships in the Arabian Sea, which the US Department of Justice said Tehran would send to the Houthis.

Iran has been accused of meddling in regional affairs by militarily supporting proxy groups in Iraq, Lebanon, Syria and Yemen. Meanwhile, officials in Tehran have denied these allegations.

Separately, the Houthis' deputy information minister denied Iran was smuggling weapons into Yemen, The Wall Street Journal reported, with Tehran saying the weapons were not sold or transported to the country.

The war in Yemen began in 2014 after Houthi rebels seized the capital, Sanaa, forcing the government to flee south and into Saudi Arabia. In 2015, the Saudi-led coalition intervened at the request of the internationally recognized government in a bid to restore power.

Last week, the Houthis were accused of hijacking a UAE-flagged ship off the coast of Yemen. Rebels seized Rawabi last Monday from the Red Sea port of Hodeida, accusing it of containing military equipment.

The ship was carrying Saudi Arabia's field hospital from Yemen's Socotra Island in the Indian Ocean to Jazan in the kingdom's south, the coalition said. The cargo includes ambulances, medical and communications equipment, tents, field kitchens, and laundry facilities, as well as technical and security support equipment.

Hodeidah, currently under rebel control, is a key entry point for aid supplies to the rebel-held north of Yemen.

"Hodeidah is the main port of arrival for Iran's ballistic missiles," coalition spokesman Turki Al Malki told a news conference this week.

The Houthis have repeatedly targeted military and civilian vessels in the Red Sea and Bab Al Mandeb, drawing international condemnation.

Meanwhile, the US designated the Houthi rebels as terrorists early last year after a series of attacks on oil tankers in the Red Sea.