Foreign
US gives 1.1 million rounds of ammunition seized from Iran to Ukraine
Published
7 months agoon
By
Vida Essel-LampteyThe US has sent roughly 1.1 million bullets seized from Iran last year to Ukraine, its military has said.
The US Central Command (Centcom), which oversees operations in the Middle East, says the rounds were confiscated from a ship bound for Yemen in December.
Ukraine’s Western allies recently warned that their production lines were struggling to keep up with the rate at which Ukraine was using ammunition.
Centcom says the Iranian rounds were transferred to Ukraine on Monday.
It added the ammunition was 7.62mm calibre used in Soviet-era rifles and light machine-guns.
While the number is significant, it represents a small percentage of the hundreds of millions of rounds already provided by allies to Ukraine.
The US has already provided more than 200 million bullets and grenades.
The Iranian munitions were originally seized by US naval forces from a stateless ship named MARWAN 1 on 9 December, it said.
The US government gained ownership of them in July through a process known as civil forfeiture, by which an asset can be seized if its owner is thought to be involved in criminal activity.
In this case, the claim was brought against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a branch of the Iranian armed forces tasked with preserving the country’s government.
In a statement, Centcom said the US was “committed to working with our allies and partners to counter the flow of Iranian lethal aid in the region by all lawful means”.
Iran backs the Houthi rebels in Yemen’s ongoing civil war, but arms transfers to the group are barred under a 2015 resolution by the UN Security Council.
The civil war in Yemen began in 2014 when the Houthis took control of the capital Sanaa and removed the country’s government.
The ousted government remains the internationally recognised authority in Yemen and is backed by a Saudi-led coalition of countries in the region as well as the US and the UK.
Since the second half of last year, Iran has also repeatedly been accused of supplying Russia with arms, most notably drones, for use in the war in Ukraine.
The transfer to Ukraine comes amid rising concern among Western allies over their continued ability to arm Kyiv
On Monday at the Warsaw Security Forum, Adm Rob Bauer, the chairman of Nato’s military committee, said that the “bottom of the barrel is now visible”.
He said decades of under investment meant that, even at the start of the war, Nato countries’ ammunition stocks had been half-full or even emptier.
“The just-in-time, just-enough economy we built together in 30 years in our liberal economies is fine for a lot of things – but not the armed forces when there is a war ongoing,” he said.
He added that governments and arms manufacturers needed to “ramp up production in a much higher tempo”.
UK Defence Minister James Heappey urged Nato allies to spend 2% of their national income on defence, a target agreed by the whole bloc but expected to be met this year by only 11 of its 31 members.
The transfer of the Iranian ammunition also comes as the Biden administration looks for alternative ways to provide assistance to Ukraine amid opposition from some in Congress.
Officials have been warning for weeks that the money currently allocated to Ukraine has been nearly exhausted, but pressure from members of the Republican right has so far prevented the House of Representatives from approving additional funds.
On Tuesday, some of the same members won a vote to unseat House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a move which will delay any vote on further aid until after a replacement is installed, which will not happen until at least the middle of next week.
Even then, any future Speaker who brings a vote on the issue to the floor is almost certain to face similar opposition.
Source: BBC
You may like
-
US House Speaker forced out of office in a historic vote
-
Canadian woman jailed 22 years for mailing Donald Trump ricin
-
20,000 crowd defies heavy downpour to welcome Messi to Inter Miami
-
Third of Americans under extreme heat advisories
-
US Supreme Court strikes down college affirmative action programs
-
Trump heard on tape discussing ‘highly confidential, secret’ documents
Mahama leads NDC to mourn with Kufuor over wife’s passing
Former President John Dramani Mahama on Wednesday, October 4 led a delegation from the National Democratic Congress (NDC) to visit...
Former First Lady of Ghana Theresa Kufuor reported dead
The former First Lady of Ghana and wife of Ghana’s former President, John Agyekum Kufour, Mrs Theresa Kufuor has been...
The most powerful tool for change is the right to vote – Mahama
The 2024 flagbearer of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), John Dramani Mahama, is rallying Ghanaains who have grown disillusioned with...
PFJ was a mere state resource looting platform – Minority
The Minority has descended heavily on the Akufo-Addo-led government for launching a second phase of the flagship Planting for Food...
ECOWAS is desecrating Ghana
The Director of Legal Affairs of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), Mr Abraham Amaliba has said the Economy Community of...
Prof Gyampo elected President of UTAG, University of Ghana branch
A Senior Lecturer at the Political Science Department of the University of Ghana (Legon), Prof Ransford Gyampo have been elected...