UK claims seizing Iranian weapons en route to Yemen
ISWNews Analysis Group: The British Navy claimed to seize the shipment of weapons sent by Iran to Yemen in the southern waters of the Oman Sea; but Iran rejected Britain’s claim.
Britain’s Ministry of Defence on Thursday said one of its warships on patrol in the Persian Gulf earlier this year seized the arms shipment en route to Yemen.
According to Britain’s Ministry of Defence claims, the HMS Montrose warship with the support of attack helicopters and the US Navy USS Gridley destroyer, succeeded in discovering and confiscating Iranian weapons shipments in the smugglers’ speedboats in the morning of January 28 and February 25, 2022 en route to Yemen.
The seized weapons included 358 surface-to-air missiles and 351 land attack cruise missile engines with a range of 1,000 km. The British Ministry of Defense believes that these weapons are the same that Ansar Allah used in recent years attacks on Aramco’s facilities in Saudi Arabia and last year’s attacks on the UAE.
The British authorities have considered Iran’s action as a violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2216 and demanded compliance with international law obligations and maintaining order in the seas.
Iran also responded to this late news and rejected the Britain’s claim.
Nasser Kanani, an spokesman for the Iran’s foreign ministry announced the Britain’s claim as “baseless” and slammed the UK of being complicit in the war in Yemen.
Nasser Kanani said: “By continuously selling advanced weapons to the self-proclaimed military coalition against the defenseless people of Yemen, Britain has been a partner in the war and aggression against Yemen.”
The United States, Saudi Arabia, and now the United Kingdom have repeatedly claimed to seize Iranian weapons shipments in the Red Sea and other international waters, but these claims are one-sided and have not been confirmed by Iran and Yemeni authorities. On the assumption of the correctness of sending weapons in this way, it should be said that in the situation where all the eastern and western countries are supplying all kinds of weapons to Iran’s regional enemies, including the Israeli regime and the member countries of the Saudi coalition; sending military aid to Yemen by Iran seems to be a reasonable and logical action.
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