USA confirms seizure of Iranian-made weapons shipment to Houthis & Tehran denies

USA confirms seizure of Iranian-made weapons shipment to Houthis & Tehran denies

The United States has announced the seizure of a shipment of advanced Iranian weapons near Yemen, and the Iranian Foreign Ministry has denied sending any arms shipments to the Houthis in Yemen.

On Monday evening, February 17, Baghaei denied Iran's role in smuggling weapons to Yemen, describing the news of the seizure of the Iranian arms shipment heading to the Houthis as "unacceptable and untrue." He stressed that Iran "had no military presence in Yemen, and the weapons in this country have nothing to do with Tehran."

Baghhaei added that these reports were circulated with the aim of "creating a negative and seditious atmosphere against Iran in parallel with the visit of American officials to the region," referring to the regional visit of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

On his first visit to the Middle East as US Secretary of State, Rubio traveled to Israel on February 15. On February 17, he traveled to Saudi Arabia to meet with senior officials there and engage in talks with Russian officials to end the war in Ukraine. The United Arab Emirates is the other country in the region that Rubio will visit.

On February 16, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) announced that the internationally recognized legitimate government in Yemen had seized a shipment of Iranian-made weapons. CENTCOM added that the Yemeni Coast Guard discovered and stopped a boat loaded with weapons in the southern Red Sea on February 12. This boat intended to deliver the weapons to the Houthis after arriving at the port of Hodeidah.

The shipment included various types of weapons and military equipment, including reconnaissance drones, marine radars, an advanced wireless communications system, parts for manufacturing cruise missiles, jet engines used in cruise missiles and suicide drones, and a radio jamming system. The delivery of weapons to the Houthis is considered a violation of UN Security Council resolutions.

Abdul Basit al-Bahr, a spokesman for the Yemeni army, announced on January 4 that Iran, after the decline of the power of its proxy groups in the region, had begun to increase the shipment of weapons to the Houthis. He warned that Iran had supplied the Houthis with large quantities of weapons so that this group could “continue for years” its attacks on international shipping and Israel.

Shortly after the conflict between Hamas and Israel began, the Houthis began their attacks on international ships in the Red Sea, the Bab al-Mandab Strait and the Gulf of Aden, threatening the security of shipping in the region in recent months. The scope of these attacks has also extended to the Indian Ocean.