Four foreign nationals were arrested and charged with transporting suspected Iranian-made weapons on a vessel intercepted by U.S. naval forces in the Arabian Sea last month, leading to the tragic death of two Navy SEALs. The defendants were all carrying Pakistani identification cards and are accused of transporting missile components for the weapons used by Houthi rebel forces, posing a direct threat to the U.S. and its allies in the region. The Justice Department has pledged to use every legal authority to hold accountable those who facilitate the flow of weapons from Iran to groups that endanger the security of the United States and its allies.
The Navy SEALs lost their lives while attempting to thwart the defendants from smuggling Iranian-made weapons that the Houthi rebels could have used to target American forces and threaten freedom of navigation and commerce. According to the criminal complaint, Muhammad Pahlawan is charged with attempting to smuggle advanced missile components, including a warhead that was intended for use by the Houthi rebels against commercial and naval vessels. Pahlawan’s co-defendants were also charged with providing false information. After Navy forces boarded the vessel and found Iranian-made weapons, all 14 sailors on the dhow were brought back to Virginia, where criminal charges were filed against four of them.
The dhow was determined to be flying without a flag, making it subject to U.S. law, and the sailors admitted to having departed from Iran and being in contact with a member of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard. These revelations have heightened concerns about the flow of weapons from Iran to Houthi rebel forces, posing a direct threat to the U.S. and its allies and leading to tragic consequences for Navy SEALs on a mission to intercept the smuggling operation.
