The U.S. has transferred to Ukraine thousands of infantry weapons and more than 500,000 rounds of ammunition that were seized more than a year ago as they were being shipped by Iran to Houthi forces in Yemen, the U.S. military said on Tuesday.
The munitions were taken from four "stateless" vessels intercepted by U.S. naval ships © Mena Today
The U.S. has transferred to Ukraine thousands of infantry weapons and more than 500,000 rounds of ammunition that were seized more than a year ago as they were being shipped by Iran to Houthi forces in Yemen, the U.S. military said on Tuesday.
The hardware sent last week is the latest military assistance that U.S. President Joe Biden's administration has provided to Kyiv for its fight to retake territory occupied by Russia.
Democrat Biden has been blocked from providing further U.S. weaponry to Kyiv by Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson's refusal to call a vote on $60 billion in new security assistance.
With Ukrainian forces running low on weapons and munitions, especially heavy artillery rounds, the United States and its allies have been searching for new ways to arm Kyiv.
The weaponry transferred by the United States to Kyiv on April 4 "constituted enough materiel to equip" a Ukrainian brigade, U.S. Central Command said in a statement posted on social media platform X.
An infantry brigade typically comprises 3,500 to 4,000 troops, but the exact numbers were not known.
Iran's permanent mission to the United Nations said, “We cannot comment on weapons and armaments that have never belonged to us.”
CENTCOM said the hardware included more than 5,000 AK-47 assault rifles, machine guns, sniper rifles and rocket-propelled grenades and more than 500,000 rounds of ammunition.
The munitions were taken from four "stateless" vessels intercepted by U.S. naval ships and those of partner forces - which were not identified - between May 22, 2021 and Feb. 15, 2023, CENTCOM said.
The weapons were being sent by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to the Houthis, CENTCOM said.
By Jonathan Landay
Iran plans to cooperate with the U.N. nuclear watchdog despite restrictions imposed by its parliament, Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said on Saturday, while stressing that access to its bombed nuclear sites posed security and safety issues.
Commercial ships still sailing through the Red Sea are broadcasting messages about their nationality and even religion on their public tracking systems to avoid being targeted by Yemen's Houthis after deadly attacks this week by the militia.
United Nations sanctions monitors have seen no "active ties" this year between Al Qaeda and the Islamist group leading Syria's interim government, an unpublished U.N. report said, a finding that could strengthen an expected U.S. push for removing U.N. sanctions on Syria.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.