American magazine: The Iranian Revolutionary Guard continues to smuggle weapons to the Houthis
English - Saturday 22 July 2023 الساعة 07:03 pm
NewsYemen:
An American magazine revealed the size of the weapons that Iran sent to the Houthi militia in Yemen, and they were confiscated by the naval forces operating in international waters between 2021 and 2023.
The American "Insider" magazine said that it had obtained official documents from a US court showing the amount of weapons sent from Iran to the Houthis in Yemen. According to the documents, the total confiscation by the US authorities during the two years is approximately 10,000 different types of rifles, about 300 machine guns, 194 rocket launchers, more than 70 anti-tank guided missiles, and nearly 800,000 rounds of ammunition, among other weapons.
The magazine attached pictures of stacked rows of assault rifles, rocket launchers and anti-tank guided missiles.
According to the magazine's report: In 2021 and 2023, the US Navy intercepted four ships sailing in international waters in the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. On those ships were thousands of weapons and nearly 800,000 rounds of ammunition, which the US government believes are part of an Iranian smuggling operation to support the Houthis in Yemen.
In a warrant filed on July 6, US prosecutors said the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, which the Trump administration designated a foreign terrorist organization in 2019, was smuggling a large amount of weapons and ammunition to support the Houthis in Yemen.
The magazine published a statement by an official in the Ministry of Defense stating: "There is no reasonable way in which these weapons and ammunition could reach ships between Iran and Yemen, except that the Revolutionary Guards continued the pattern of smuggling aid to the Houthis in Yemen."
According to documents obtained by the American magazine: The US Navy intercepted four sailboats, on May 6 and December 20 in 2021 and on January 6 and 15 of this year.
The Defense Ministry official said the four ships visited ports known to the IRGC and sailed through routes consistent with the IRGC's previous smuggling operations.
In its report, the magazine indicated that the US government confiscated 2,556 Model 56 assault rifles, 35 Russian-made assault rifles, 194 Iranian-made rocket launchers, and 183 general-purpose machine guns. In addition to 100 Chinese-made sniper rifles, 52 Iranian-made anti-material rifles, 50 Russian-made rifles, and a quantity of anti-tank guided missiles.
