By Pishtaz and AFP | 2023-10-05

The United States has given Ukraine small arms ammunition that was seized while being transferred from Iranian forces to the Tehran-backed Houthis in Yemen, the military said Wednesday (October 4).

"The US government transferred approximately 1.1 million 7.62mm rounds to the Ukrainian armed forces" on Monday, the military's Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.

The ammunition was seized by US naval forces in December 2022 while it was "being transferred from the IRGC [Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps] to the Houthis in Yemen," CENTCOM said.

"The government obtained ownership of these munitions on July 20, 2023, through the Department of Justice's civil forfeiture claims" against the IRGC, it added.

Evidence of overt Iranian support for the Houthis has surfaced time and again since the 2014 coup that unseated the Yemeni government, leading to a devastating war and one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.

Arms smuggling is prevalent in the Red Sea, Arabian Sea and Gulf of Oman, with the Houthis engaging in this illicit activity via several previously documented routes.

One route runs along the coasts of Oman and Yemen, and another passes off the Somali coast, while a third runs through Bab al-Mandeb strait, according to a United Nations (UN) Security Council panel of experts on Yemen.

Forfeiture complaints

Shipments of arms and narcotics destined for the militia have been seized at regular intervals in regional waters, despite a UN arms embargo in place since 2015.

Although Iran denies arming the Houthis, forensic evidence has linked the Islamic Republic to drone attacks in the region and beyond, including the September 2019 drone attacks on the Abqaiq and Khurais oil installations in Saudi Arabia.

On July 6, the US Department of Justice filed a forfeiture complaint "against over 9,000 rifles, 284 machine guns, approximately 194 rocket launchers, over 70 anti-tank guided missiles and over 700,000 rounds of ammunition that the US Navy seized in transit from Iran's IRGC to militant groups in Yemen," according to a press release by the department's Office of Public Affairs.

The weapons came from four interdictions of stateless dhow vessels: two from 2021 and two from 2023, it said.

This action follows the government's March 2023 forfeiture action affecting more than one million rounds of ammunition en route from Iran to Yemen, the statement said.

US officials have spearheaded the push for international support for Ukraine, quickly forging a coalition to back Kyiv after Russia invaded last year and coordinating aid from dozens of countries.

Washington has committed more than $43 billion in military assistance to Ukraine since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022 -- more than half of all international security aid to the country.