U.S. warship in Arabian Sea seizes suspected Iranian weapons

Navy personnel serving on the US cruiser Normandy uncovered a shipment of weapons aboard of a sailboat in the Arabian Sea after boarding the vessel “in accordance with international law,” the US Central Command said on Thursday.

It said the seized weapons are believed to be of Iranian “design and manufacture,” including 150 anti-tank guided missiles and three Iranian surface-to-air missiles, the American military said on Thursday.

In a statement, the military said the guided-missile cruiser Normandy boarded a dhow, a traditional sailing vessel, in the Arabian Sea on Sunday.

Read full US Central Command statement here

“The weapons seized include 150 ‘Dehlavieh’ anti-tank guided missiles (ATGM), which are Iranian-manufactured copies of Russian Kornet ATGMs,” the statement said.

“Other weapons components seized aboard the dhow were of Iranian design and manufacture and included three Iranian surface-to-air missiles,” it said.

The military said that the weapons seized on Sunday were “identical” to those seized by another U.S. warship in November.

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