DOJ Charges 4 Foreign Nationals With Smuggling Iranian Weapons to Yemen’s Houthis

The U.S. Department of Justice has charged four foreign nationals with smuggling Iranian-made advanced conventional weaponry to the Houthi terrorist group in Yemen last month. U.S. Navy SEALs operating from USS Lewis B Puller (ESB 3) boarded a small vessel during a nighttime mission in the Arabian Sea on Jan. 11, seizing control of the vessel and suspected Iranian-made ballistic missile and cruise missile components on board. The elite U.S. special operators also detained 14 individuals on board the dhow, including defendants Muhammad Pahlawan, Mohammad Mazhar, Ghufran Ullah, and Izhar Muhammad. On Thursday, the DOJ unsealed its Feb. 11 criminal complaint against the four defendants. The DOJ described the four men as foreign nationals, and charging documents indicated U.S. officials found Pakistani identification cards for each of the defendants aboard the seized vessel....