TEHRAN continues to deliver weapons to Yemen’s Huthi rebels, said the US military yesterday, following a second interception in less than three months of what Washington said are Iranian arms.

“The seizure is consistent with a historical pattern of Iranian smuggling of advanced weapons to the Huthis in Yemen,” said Captain Bill Urban of the US Central Command, which is responsible for American forces in the Middle East, during a briefing at the Pentagon on the latest interdiction.

Both interceptions were in the Gulf region and involved dhow vessels that were sailing without a flag, the first occurring on November 25 last year and the second on February 9.

Urban presented photos of the seized cargo, and said the weapons came from Iran and were intended for the Huthis.

In the latest seizure, the USS Normandy found 150 “Dhelavieh”, Iranian-made copies of the Russian Kornet anti-tank guided missile, and three Iranian-designed and manufactured “358” surface-to-air missiles, he said.

The weapons seized last November included the same type of missiles, plus a large number of spare parts for cruise missiles.

The US assessed “with high confidence” that the weapons “were being illicitly smuggled to the Huthis in Yemen in contravention of multiple United Nations Security Council resolutions”, said Urban.

He did not say how the two dhows – small boats that circulate in large numbers in the region – were spotted or where they were loaded.

The crew arrested in the latest shipment are Yemenis, and have been delivered to the Yemen coast guard, he said.

Iran has repeatedly denied providing military assistance to the Huthi rebels, who have seized much of Yemen’s north and took control of Sanaa in 2014.

The Huthis are battling the Yemen government, which is backed by a Saudi-led military coalition.

Tens of thousands of people have died in the conflict since 2015, and millions suffer food shortages in what the UN has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. – AFP, February 20, 2020.