The U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet has announced the interception of more than 50 tons of munitions concealed on a fishing vessel covering a route bound for Yemen.
The operation took place Dec. 1 and was conducted by the crew of the expeditionary mobile base ship ‘USS Lewis B. Puller’ during a verification maneuver.
The cargo included more than one million 7.62mm cartridges; 25,000 12.7mm cartridges; some 7,000 rocket fuses and 2,100 self-propelled grenade fuel.
The commander of the Central Naval Command, Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, has denounced that the shipment came from Iran and was destined for the Huthi insurgency in Yemen, backed by the Islamic Republic in its war against the Yemeni government.
«This significant seizure clearly demonstrates Iran’s continued illegal transfer of lethal aid and destabilizing behavior,» Cooper said in the Navy’s statement, released Saturday.
The Huthis have not commented on this operation beyond condemning «America’s behavior in the Red Sea,» whose practices «endanger international peace and security,» according to a Huthi Foreign Ministry statement carried by the South24 portal.
