Russia has long turned to Iranian-made drones to attack Ukraine. Now Ukrainian forces will be using bullets seized from Iran against Russian troops.
A US Navy ship seized the 1.1 million rounds off of a vessel that was being used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to arm Houthi rebels in Yemen’s civil war in a breach of a UN Security Council resolution.
Those 7.62mm rounds have now been transferred to Ukraine, US Central Command said on Wednesday. The much-needed ammunition has been sent at a time when continued US financial support for Kyiv’s fight to defend itself remains in question.
Photo: AFP
The 7.62mm ammunition is the standard round for Soviet-era Kalashnikov assault rifles and their many derivatives. Ukraine, as a former Soviet republic, still relies on the Kalashnikov for many of its units.
“With this weapons transfer, the [US] Justice Department’s forfeiture actions against one authoritarian regime are now directly supporting the Ukrainian people’s fight against another authoritarian regime. We will continue to use every legal authority at our disposal to support Ukraine in their fight for freedom, democracy, and the rule of law,” US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
The US Navy’s Middle East-based 5th Fleet and its allies have intercepted numerous ships believed to be transporting weapons and ammunition from Iran to Yemen in support of the Iranian-backed Houthis. This is the first time that the seized weaponry has been handed over to Ukraine, Central Command spokeswoman Captain Abigail Hammock said.
This shipment was seized by Central Command naval forces in December last year off of a vessel the command described as a “stateless dhow,” a traditional wooden sailing ship, that was being used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to arm the Houthis.
A fragile ceasefire is in place in Yemen after the almost decade-long war, but Iran has continued to supply the Houthis with lethal aid, Lieutenant General Alexus Grynkewich, head of US Air Forces Central, told reporters on Wednesday.
Grynkewich said this was a major threat to Yemen finding a durable peace.
US Central Command said the US “obtained ownership of these munitions on July 20 through the [US] Department of Justice’s civil forfeiture claims against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.”
A UN arms embargo has prohibited weapons transfers to the Houthis since 2014. Iran insists it adheres to the ban, even as it has long been transferring rifles, rocket-propelled grenades, missiles and other weaponry to the Houthis via the sea.
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