Four Iranian arms shipments halted on way to Yemen

UAE welcomes new United Nations peace proposal

DUBAI // Warships from the United States navy and Saudi-led coalition have intercepted four weapons shipments from Iran to Yemen since April last year, a US admiral said yesterday. Yemen has been rocked by war since Houthi rebels attacked the capital Sanaa in 2014 and continued to take over other parts of the country, prompting military intervention by a Saudi-led coalition in support of the government.

The UAE, which is a key member of the coalition, yesterday welcomed a proposal by Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, United Nations envoy to Yemen, to revive a political process to end the conflict.

He submitted the proposal to the rebels in Sanaa on Tuesday. The contents have not been made public, but informed sources said it called for agreement on naming a new vice president after the rebels withdraw from the capital and other cities, and hand over heavy weapons to a third party. Yemeni president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi would then transfer power to this vice president who would appoint a new prime minister to form a government in which the north and south of Yemen would have equal representation.

Mr Hadi’s government has so far been non-committal.

Iran denies arming the Houthis, an accusation launched by the US and Saudi Arabia. But the coalition has enforced maritime and air controls over Yemen.

“Either US ships or coalition ships intercepted four weapons shipments from Iran to Yemen,” said US vice admiral Kevin Donegan. “We know they came from Iran and we know the destination.”

He said the shipments contained thousands of AK-47 assault rifles, anti-tank missiles, sniper rifles and “other pieces of other equipment, higher-end weapons systems”.

Naval officials were able to determine the destination of the boats’ by analysing GPS settings and interviewing the crew. One of the shipments had been validated by the UN as being an illegal weapons shipment, said Adm Donegan.

The three- star admiral said that, given the high amount of traffic around the Strait of Hormuz and the Arabian Gulf, “plenty” of other shipments would have gone through to Yemen.

The interceptions came after Iran, in April last year, tried to send a convoy of seven ships, guarded by two Revolutionary Guard vessels, to Yemen. Adm Donegan said these ships were filled with coastal-defence cruise missiles, explosives and other weapons.