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April 10 (UPI) -- The United States has transferred to Ukraine thousands of weapons along with hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition that it seized from Iran en route to its Houthi rebels in Yemen. The Justice Department said Tuesday that the United States transferred more than 5,000 AK-47s, machine guns, sniper rifles and RPG-7s as well as 500,000 rounds of 7.62mm ammunition to the Ukrainian armed forces on Thursday.
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"With this weapons transfer, the United States government is both disrupting Iran's destabilizing efforts and supporting Ukraine's fight against Russia's brutal, unprovoked invasion," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
"The Justice Department will continue to use our legal authorities, including forfeiture, to support the Ukrainian people in their fight for freedom, democracy and the rule of law."
The weaponry were seized by U.S. Central Command forces from four flagless boats in the Arabian Sea en route from Iran to Yemen, where the U.S.-designated Tehran proxy militia Houthi rebels have been attacking commercial vessels as well as U.S. and British warships.
The Houthis have been attacking the vessels in the Red Sea since mid-November, stating the attacks are in solidarity with the Palestinian people amid Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza.
The United States have responded by targeting the Houthis with retaliatory and preventative strikes and Iran-related sanctions in an effort to cut off its ability to fire on the shipping vessels.
U.S. Central Command said in a separate statement that the Yemen-destined ships were intercepted between May 22, 2021, and Feb. 15, 2023. It said the munitions were being transferred from Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to the Houthis in violation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 2216.
According to court documents, two of the vessels were seized in 2021 with the other two seizures occurring last year.
"These interdictions led to the discovery and seizure of four large caches of conventional weapons, including long arms and anti-tank missiles, and related munitions -- all of which were determined to be primarily of either Iranian, Chinese or Russian origin," the Justice Department said.
The United States gained control of the weapons Dec. 1, following the Justice Department having filed a civil forfeiture action against the seized munitions in July.
It is not the first time that the United States has sent Ukraine weapons it has seized from Iran. UPI reported in October that the Biden administration sent 1.1 million rounds of ammunition to Kyiv.
That ammunition had been confiscated in December 2022 while en route from Iran to Yemen.
Last week's transfer comes as Ukraine has been calling on international partners for more weaponry as its stocks dwindle. Meanwhile, additional U.S. funding for the beleaguered ally has been tied up by Republicans in the House of Representatives.
On Tuesday, the State Department approved an emergency sale of spare parts and repair services for the HAWK Missile systems to Ukraine.
