US Navy confiscates shipment of Chinese, Iranian weapons in Persian Gulf

The crew of the USS Monterey captured the shipment including assault rifles, machine guns, rocket launchers and anti-tank missiles that was apparently intended for the Houthi rebels in Yemen

US Navy confiscates shipment of Chinese, Iranian weapons in Persian Gulf

The captured materiel on the deck of the ship. Photo: U.S. Navy/Handout via REUTERS

The crew of the guided missile cruiser USS Monterey from the U.S. Fifth Fleet captured a large shipment of weapons during a search of a local dhow that it stopped in the Persian Gulf. The weapons were apparently intended for the Youthi rebels in Yemen. 

The Fifth Fleet announced that the incident occurred between the 6th and the 7th of this month, and that the boat carried thousands of Chinese Type 56 assault rifles, hundreds of PKM machine guns, sniper rifles, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and two anti-tank missiles, one "Konkours" and one "Faktoriya". The markings on the weapons were in Cyrillic and Latin. Sputnik News reported that some of the weapons were Iranian copies of weapons made in China that have been seen with the Houthis in Yemen.

The Fifth Fleet announced that it is investigating the origin and intended destination of the weapons, noting that similar shipments that were interdicted in the past were sent to the Houthis.  

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