The U.S. Navy and Coast Guard intercepted an infinite Iranian cargo of explosive supplies headed to Yemen final week, in keeping with a press release from U.S. Central Command.
The stateless fishing boat was carrying greater than 180 tons of urea fertilizer and ammonium perchlorate when the Coast Guard ship USCGC John Scheuerman and Navy guided missile cruiser USS The Sullivans got here throughout the dhow in worldwide waters of the Gulf of Oman on Nov. 8.
For the subsequent 5 days explosive ordnance disposal technicians from the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command’s Process Pressure 56 and crew from the usHurricane searched the boat and recognized the substances as urea fertilizer and ammonium perchlorate, which might each be utilized in explosives.
After U.S. army explosives consultants examined the boat and off-loaded the explosive materials and Yemeni crew members, the U.S. army deemed the boat a hazard to industrial ship navigation and sank it within the Gulf of Oman on Sunday. The usThe Sullivans transferred the 4 Yemeni crew to the Yemeni Coast Guard within the Gulf of Aden in order that they might be handed over to Yemeni civil authorities.
That is the primary time U.S. forces assigned to the Navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain have intercepted ammonium perchlorate, however they seized one other giant cargo of urea fertilizer earlier this yr when the usCole and USS Chinook seized a fishing boat within the Gulf of Oman with 40 tons of urea fertilizer coming from the coast of Somalia.
The U.S. army says it discovered greater than 70 tons of the ammonium perchlorate, an oxidizer that can be utilized to make rocket gas, missile gas, and different explosives. The dhow additionally had greater than 100 tons of urea fertilizer, which can be utilized as an explosive precursor.
“Alongside our accomplice forces, CENTCOM is dedicated to safety and stability of the area and to deterring the unlawful and destabilizing movement of deadly materials into the area over land, within the air, and at sea,” Gen. Michael “Erik” Kurilla stated in a press release concerning the seizure.
“This was an enormous quantity of explosive materials, sufficient to gas greater than a dozen medium-range ballistic missiles, relying on the scale,” in keeping with Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, U.S. fifth Fleet, and Mixed Maritime Forces. “The illegal switch of deadly assist from Iran doesn’t go unnoticed. It’s irresponsible, harmful, and results in violence and instability throughout the Center East.”
The provision, sale, or switch of weapons to the Houthis violates UN Safety Council Decision 2216 and worldwide legislation.
