Yemen: U.S. Navy seizes 70 tons of missile fuel in Iranian ship; Details
The US Navy revealed on Tuesday that 70 tons of missile fuel hidden among a shipment of fertilizer on a ship headed to Yemen from Iran was seized in the first such seizure, including missile material, in light of the collapse of the truce in Yemen and the failure to renew it.
Rearming
According to ABC News, the same weapon was used by the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen to target the country’s internationally recognized government forces and the Saudi-led Arab coalition. The US network confirmed that the efforts to rearm the group come as Iran has threatened Saudi Arabia, the United States, and other countries over months of protests calling for the overthrow of the clerical regime in the Iranian Republic. Tehran blames foreign powers – not its frustrated people – for sparking the protests, which saw at least 344 people killed and 15820 arrested amid a massive crackdown on dissent.
Explosive material
Timothy Hawkins, spokesman for the Fifth Fleet of the Navy in the Middle East, told the Associated Press that this type of shipment and the large quantity of explosive materials is a source of serious concern because it destabilizes, pointing out that the illegal transfer of weapons from Iran to Yemen leads to instability and violence.
The US Navy explained that the US Coast Guard ship USCGC John Scheuerman and the guided missile destroyer USS The Sullians stopped a traditional wooden sailing vessel in the Gulf of Oman on November 8. During a week-long search, the sailors discovered bags of ammonium perchlorate hidden inside a shipment weighing 100 tons of urea fertilizer, which can also be used in the manufacture of explosives and not only for agriculture. Hawkins said that the sailboat was loaded with a huge cargo and ended up sinking the ship with a lot of material on board due to the danger it represented, with the four Yemeni crew members handed over to the country’s internationally recognized government on Tuesday, and in response to a question about how the navy knew about the ship and what it carried. Hawkins said that the US Navy knew through “multiple means” that the ship was carrying the fuel used in the missiles and that it came from Iran and was headed to Yemen. “Given that the ship was sailing along a route commonly used to smuggle illegal weapons and drugs from Iran to Yemen, this raises suspicions, and that the shipment will not be used for normal civilian work,” Hawkins said.
