US Files One Of Largest Forfeiture Actions For Weapons Shipments From Iran - Justice Dept.

The United States has filed a forfeiture complaint against more than a million rounds of ammunition and other weapons seized by the US Navy en route from Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to militant groups in Yemen, the Justice Department announced on Friday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 31st March, 2023) The United States has filed a forfeiture complaint against more than a million rounds of ammunition and other weapons seized by the US Navy en route from Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to militant groups in Yemen, the Justice Department announced on Friday.

"The United States disrupted a major operation by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to smuggle weapons of war into the hands of a militant group in Yemen," US Attorney General Merrick Garland said in the release.

Among the weapons the US is seeking to keep are over a million rounds of ammunition and thousands of proximity fuses for rocket-propelled grenades.

The weapons were initially seized in early December of last year from a flagless vessel in the Arabian Sea, according to the release.

The forfeiture is part of a larger-scale effort to investigate an Iranian weapons-smuggling network involved in the illicit trafficking of advanced conventional weapons systems and components by sanctioned Iranian entities directly supporting both the Houthi movement in Yemen and Iranian terrorist activities across the region, the release said.

The case, which is part of a US effort to enforce sanctions against the IRGC, is being litigated by the US Attorney's office for the District of Columbia and the National Security Division.