Navy stops fishing boat smuggling 2,000-plus AK-47s from Iran to Yemen

The U.S. Navy last week intercepted a fishing boat smuggling more than 2,000 AK-47 assault rifles from Iran to Yemen, the Pentagon revealed Tuesday.

The patrol coastal ship USS Chinook first discovered the vessel sailing in international waters in the Gulf of Oman on a route historically used to traffic illicit cargo to the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command said in a statement.

A Navy boarding team was deployed and discovered a crew of six Yemeni nationals along with 2,116 AK-47s, the transfer of which to Houthi rebels is a violation of a United Nations Security Council resolution and international law, the Navy said.

“The illegal flow of weapons from Iran through international waterways has a destabilizing effect on the region,” U.S. Central Command head Gen. Michael Kurilla said in the release.