Navy SEALs found Iran missile parts for Yemen's Houthis, U.S. says

A team of Navy SEALs that lost two sailors overboard in the Gulf of Aden found suspected Iranian missile parts bound for the Houthi rebels in Yemen, the U.S. military said.

A team of Navy SEALs that lost two sailors overboard while searching a small boat off the coast of Somalia went on to find Iranian missile parts bound for Tehran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, the U.S. military said Tuesday.

American ships and aircraft are continuing a huge search and rescue mission in the Gulf of Aden, between Yemen and Somalia, after the two SEALs disappeared into rough, nighttime seas during the boarding operation last Thursday.

Despite losing their two crewmembers, the team went on to find "Iranian-made ballistic missile and cruise missiles components" including propulsion, guidance, and warheads for medium-ranged ballistic missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles, U.S. Central Command, which oversees the military in the Middle East and parts of Asia, said in a statement posted on X.

CENTCOM said that the arms discovered by the SEALs were the same type of weapons that the Houthis have used to attack international merchant shipping in the Red Sea — jeopardizing a vital maritime artery in what the militant group says is a protest at Israel's war in Gaza.

Weapons seized by US Navy Seals off the Somali coast on Jan. 11, 2024. U.S. Central CommandThe team, attached to the Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain, were on board the USS Lewis B. Puller, which the Navy describes as a “mobile sea base.” They identified a small boat, known as a dhow, that was not flagged to any country and had no paperwork so decided to board it using a smaller, fast vessel called a rigid-hulled inflatable boat, or RHIB, three defense officials told NBC News.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/navy-seals-found-iran-missile-parts-yemen-houthis-rcna134050

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