Iran has not stopped its terrorism in the region and its smuggling of weapons to the Houthis, through leaders in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, the Quds Force and Hezbollah, including missiles, fuel used in the manufacture of mines and drugs, with the aim of prolonging the war, obstructing any political negotiations and aborting any chances to reach a peaceful solution to the conflict, influencing the course of fighting and battles on the ground in favor of the militias, blackmailing the international community and using the Yemeni crisis as a bargaining chip and political pressure in its nuclear crisis with the world countries.
Investigations conducted by the National Resistance and the Yemeni Coast Guard on the western coast with more than 7 Houthi smuggling cells last September, who were arrested on the western coast, the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea while they were on boats, revealed that they were working to smuggle weapons from some Iranian ships.
A ship of weapons commanded by Iranian sailors was also seized and handed over to the security services in Mahra south of Yemen. The smuggling cells admitted that there are Houthi leaders and officers of the Revolutionary Guards who received them in the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, and they are in charge of coordinating with them, loading and shipping weapons. The Arab Coalition, international forces, and the American and British fleets in the Arabian Sea participated in the seizure of arms smuggling alongside the Yemeni Coast Guard.
Yemeni security sources confirmed to Okaz newspaper that in 2022, the Yemeni forces seized a group of shipments of weapons in addition to communications equipment and a shipment of about 4 shipments of fertilizer that goes into making mines, in addition to foreign and Yemeni elements involved in these operations that violate Yemeni and international laws.
The Yemeni Ministry of Interior announced Friday, seizing two trucks with unmanned aerial vehicles on board that were on their way to the Houthis, confirming the shipment as part of Iranian attempts to smuggle weapons to the militia.
The US Navy in the Middle East intercepted a number of fishing vessels throughout the year 2022, including fishing vessels used by the militia to smuggle weapons. Last month it intercepted 50 tons of ammunition, fuses and fuel for missiles seized in the Gulf of Oman that were on their sea route from Iran to Yemen.
Last month, US forces intercepted more than a million 7.62mm rounds, 25,000 12.7mm ammunition, about 7,000 proximity fuses for missiles, and more than 2,100 kilograms of propellant for launching rockets.
Last November, US forces intercepted a fishing vessel carrying more than 70 tons of ammonium chlorate, a strong oxidizing agent commonly used to make rocket fuel and explosives.
Last August, Saudi Arabia blacklisted five Houthi leaders for their association with smuggling weapons, receiving training in Iran, and launching attacks using ballistic missiles and drones on targets inside and outside Yemen and in the Red Sea, and they are: Mansour Ahmed Al-Saadi, Ahmed Ali Al-Hamzi, Mohammed Abdul-Karim Al-Ghamari, Zakaria Abdullah Yahya Hajar, and Ahmed Mohammed Ali Al-Gohary.
