A US Navy warship has seized 150 anti-tank missiles believed to be of Iranian “design and manufacture” as well as three surface-to-air missiles, the US military said Thursday in a statement.
“On Feb. 9, 2020, USS Normandy (CG 60), while conducting maritime security operations in the US Central Command area of operations, boarded a dhow in accordance with international law and discovered a large cache of weapons,” US Central Command said in a statement.
“The crew of the guided-missile cruiser USS Normandy (CG 60), in accordance with international law, seized an illicit shipment of advanced weapons and weapon components, which held 358 surface-to-air missile components and “Dehlavieh” anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM), intended for the Houthis in Yemen,” the statement said.
All told there were 150 of the anti-tank guided missiles as well as three surface-to-air missiles aboard the “stateless dhow” involved in a “maritime interdiction operation in the US Fifth Fleet area of operations” on Feb. 9.
Wikipedia: Dhow (Arabic dāwa Marathi “dāw”) is the generic name of a number of traditional sailing vessels with one or more masts with settee or sometimes lateen sails, used in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean region. Historians are divided as to whether the dhow was invented by Arabs or Indians.
The Fifth Fleet carries out “routine patrols to determine pattern of life in the maritime as well as to enhance mariner-to-mariner relations,” said the military, adding that the operations “reassure allies and partners and preserve freedom of navigation and free flow of commerce.”
Tehran is prohibited by a UN resolution from supplying, selling or transferring weapons outside Iran unless approved by the United Nations Security Council; a separate resolution on Yemen bans the supply of weapons to the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels, who are fighting the Saudi-backed Yemeni government.