US Sent Seized Iranian Weapons, Ammo To Ukraine As Resupply Efforts Hit Desperation
The Pentagon announced Tuesday it has delivered thousands of small arms previously seized from a shipment intended for Yemen’s Houthi rebels, along with over half a million rounds of ammunition.
The US believes the seized arms were supplied by Iran, and recent years have seen an untick in these ‘illegal’ shipments from Tehran to the Houthis via regional waters. US Central Command had said the arms were delivered to Ukraine forces last week, coming amid reported severe ammo and weapons shortages along the front lines with Russia.
“The US government transferred over 5,000 AK-47s, machine guns, sniper rifles, RPG-7s and over 500,000 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition to the Ukrainian armed forces” on Thursday, CENTCOM announced on social media.
“These weapons will help Ukraine defend against Russia’s invasion” and are enough material to equip a brigade, the statement touted further.
CENTCOM described that it was the result of several ship seizures running between May 2021 and February 2023 from “stateless vessels”. The Pentagon says Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) was ultimately behind the shipments.
“Iran’s support for armed groups threatens international and regional security, our forces, diplomatic personnel, and citizens in the region, as well as those of our partners. We will continue to do whatever we can to shed light on and stop Iran’s destabilizing activities,” CENTCOM added.
Starting months ago, the Pentagon began warning that it is running out of weapons for Ukraine, having just “months” left in approved supplies, at a sensitive moment that support from among the Western allies in general is waning, and as Biden’s desired $60 billion more in defense aid for Kiev has remained blocked by House Republicans.
US forces intercept second boat carrying Iranian weapon supplies for Houthi rebels https://t.co/Y6Hcp1EjiE pic.twitter.com/DjRha0PIO1
— Shephard News (@ShephardNews) February 15, 2024
Some European allies, such as the French, have also announced their own Iranian weapons seizures of late. The majority of these were believed bound for Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the Shia allies of Iran which have effectively closed the Red Sea to international shipping through weekly drone and missile attacks.
The Pentagon’s seized arms for Ukraine program has been up and running since at least October, at which point the US said it was in possession of one million rounds of Iranian ammunition, which are bound for Ukraine.
