Thousands of assault rifles and half a million rounds of ammunition: The USA says it has sent confiscated weapons from Iran that were intended for the Houthi rebels in Yemen to Ukraine.
The US government says it has sent thousands of seized machine guns from Iran to Ukraine, which was attacked by Russia. The weapons were seized by the US military and allied forces on four unflagged ships in the Arabian Sea between 2021 and 2023, the US Justice Department said.
The ships were on their way from Iran to Yemen. Around 5,000 AK-47 assault rifles, sniper rifles and machine guns as well as around 500,000 rounds of ammunition were secured, it said.
Delivery from Iran violates UN resolution
According to the Justice Department, Iran wanted to send the weapons to Houthi rebels in Yemen in violation of a UN Security Council resolution. The USA consequently declared the ammunition to be its property. “With this arms transfer, the United States government is disrupting Iran’s destabilizing efforts and supporting Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s brutal, unprovoked invasion,” said U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland. The U.S. government has previously provided Ukraine with ammunition seized from Iran.
The USA is considered Ukraine’s most important ally in the fight against the Russian invasion. However, further aid for Kiev is currently pending. A US military aid package worth $60 billion has been stuck in Congress for months. The Senate, controlled by Democrats, has already approved the package, but Republicans in the House of Representatives have been blocking the vote required for it for weeks.