US Navy Seizes Yemen-Bound Assault Rifles

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Facts

• The US announced on Tuesday the seizure of over 2.1k assault rifles on a ship in the Gulf of Oman, believed to have come from Iran and bound for Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.¹
• The Bahrain-based US Navy Fifth Fleet discovered the cargo Friday on a small wooden boat crewed by Yemeni nationals off the coast of Oman. The Yemeni crew will reportedly be repatriated back to a government-controlled part of Yemen.²
• The weapons appear to be Chinese-made T-56 rifles and Russian-made Molot AKS20Us, according to experts who examined photos released by the Navy. Similar weapons suspected to be from Iran and headed to Yemen have previously been seized.³
• Last month, the US Navy claimed to have captured one million rounds of ammunition, rocket fuses, and propellant on a fishing vessel traveling to Yemen from Iran. In November, the Navy also said it found 70 tonnes of missile fuel allegedly being smuggled from Iran to Yemen.²
• A UN arms embargo prohibited weapons transfers to the Houthis in 2014 when Yemen’s civil war erupted.³

Sources: ¹CNN, ²Al Jazeera and ³Associated Press.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by United states department of state. The ongoing illegal flow of weapons to Yemen is causing significant suffering for innocent civilians. International negotiators are working hard to find a political solution to the war. The most recent seizure of Iranian weapons is just one more example demonstrating that Iran is continuing to arm the Houthis and disregard peace-making processes.
• Establishment-critical narrative, as provided by Inkstick. Washington's role in the influx of weapons in the conflict— and by extension, its role in the country's crisis — can't be overlooked. As it hypocritically denounces Iran's suspected supply of weapons, the US itself is heavily arming Saudi Arabia in the hopes of cozying up with the oil-rich nation, and innocent civilians are paying the price.