US Navy says it seizes arms from Iran likely bound for Yemen

By ISABEL DEBRE
Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — The U.S. Navy says it has seized a large cache of assault rifles and ammunition being smuggled by a fishing ship from Iran likely bound for war-ravaged Yemen. U.S. Navy patrol ships say they discovered the weapons aboard what the Navy described as a stateless fishing vessel. The operation that began on Monday in the northern reaches of the Arabian Sea off Oman and Pakistan. It’s just the latest interdiction amid the grinding war in Yemen that pits Iran-backed Houthi rebels against a Saudi-led military coalition. Western nations and U.N. experts have accused Iran of smuggling illicit weapons into Yemen. Iran denies arming the rebels.