The French navy seized thousands of assault rifles, machine guns and anti-tank missiles from Iran in January in the Gulf of Oman targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels, officials said Thursday.
Iran did not immediately acknowledge the seizure, but images of the weapons released by the U.S. Central Command show similarities to those seized by U.S. forces on other shipments linked to Tehran. there is
The announcement comes as Western pressure mounts over Iran’s shipment of drones to arm Russia in the Ukraine war and months of violent crackdowns on protesters.
Tensions have also risen in the region after Israel allegedly used drones to attack a military workshop in the central Iranian city of Isfahan.
In previous cycles of violence since Iran’s failed nuclear deal with the rest of the world, the Islamic Republic has launched retaliatory strikes at sea.
On January 15, an attack took place in the Gulf of Oman, an area stretching from the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf, to the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean.
U.S. Central Command said the interception was “along a route historically used for illicit arms trafficking from Iran to Yemen.”
A UN resolution bans arms exports to Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. The Houthis occupied Yemen’s capital at the end of 2014 and have been at war with a Saudi-led coalition that backs the country’s internationally recognized government since March 2015.
The Wall Street Journal first reported it, revealing it to be an elite French special forces unit. A local official with knowledge of the blockade, who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the details of the operation, also stated that France had made the seizure.
The French military did not respond to a request for comment on the seizure of the weapon. Neither the US Central Command nor the UN mission in Iran immediately responded to questions about the seizure.
France maintains a naval base in Abu Dhabi, but while maintaining a diplomatic presence in Iran, it tends to take a more cautious approach in the region.
Western countries, UN experts and others have found weapons such as night vision scopes, rifles and missiles in Tehran, but Iran has denied arming the Houthis.
In November, the U.S. Navy claimed to have found 70 tons of missile fuel components hidden in fertilizer bags on a ship en route from Iran to Yemen. Houthi ballistic missile launches have previously targeted Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Images taken Wednesday by U.S. Central Command and analyzed by the Associated Press showed various weapons aboard an unidentified vessel believed to be docked in a port.
Weapons are believed to be a Chinese-made Type 56 rifle, a Russian-made Molot AKS20U, and a PKM-patterned machine gun. Both appear in other arms seizures attributed to Iran.
Leave a Reply