The US military acknowledged that thousands of infantry weapons and rounds of ammunition had been supplied to Ukraine. More over a year ago, the US troops confiscated the explosives as Iran attempted to transport them to Houthi militants.
The arms were delivered last week as the Biden administration's latest military assistance to Ukraine for its ongoing conflict with Russian forces, after House Speaker Mike Johnson refused to call a vote on a $60 billion military aid package, preventing the Biden administration from providing additional security assistance.
“On Apr. 4, 2024, the U.S. government transferred over 5,000 AK-47s, machine guns, sniper rifles, RPG-7s and over 500,000 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition to the Ukrainian armed forces. This constitutes enough materiel to equip one UKR BDE with small arms rifles,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement posted on social media platform X.
“The government obtained ownership of these munitions on December 1, 2023, through the Department of Justice’s civil forfeiture claims against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).”
Ukraine's military recently stated that it was running short on weaponry and ammunition, particularly heavy artillery shells. This has prompted the Biden administration to seek alternate means to equip Kyiv.
The munitions were adequate to outfit an entire Ukrainian brigade, which generally numbered up to 4,000 troops, according to the United States. Central Command (CENTCOM) went on to note in its statement, however it did not specify the exact number.
According to CENTCOM, the munitions were initially confiscated by the U.S. Central Command and allied naval forces will transit four stateless vessels between May 2021 and February 2023.
The weapons were found to be predominantly of Iranian, Chinese, or Russian provenance.
CENTCOM also verified that the weapons were recovered after being transferred from the IRGC to the Houthis in Yemen, which violated United Nations Security Council Resolution 2216.
“Civil forfeiture remains an important tool in our efforts to stop or disrupt terrorist organizations like the IRGC. Its use in this case demonstrates the power of our counter-threat financing actions to strip legal control of assets from bad actors,” said U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves for the District of Columbia.
“We are proud to have been able to work with CENTCOM in this matter, and through them to further the efforts of partners like the Ukrainian armed forces in their fight to maintain freedom.”
“U.S. CENTCOM is committed to working with our allies and partners to counter the flow of Iranian lethal aid in the region by all lawful means including U.S. and U.N. sanctions and through interdictions,” CENTCOM’s statement continued.
Iran has refuted the allegations about the origin of the seized armaments. Iran’s permanent mission to the United Nations said, “We cannot comment on weapons and armaments that have never belonged to us.”
However, Iran has played a key role in supporting terrorist actions outside of its borders, particularly since the outbreak of the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
Since November, the Yemeni Houthi terrorist organization has carried out many attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea. Meanwhile, other Iranian-backed terrorist organizations have launched periodic attacks on IDF units along Israel's border with Lebanon and Syria.
