US to hand over seized Iranian weapons to Ukraine – CNN
The US will transfer thousands of seized Iranian weapons and ammunition rounds to Ukraine, which could help alleviate some of the critical shortages facing the Ukrainian military, CNN reports.
US Central Command has already transferred over one million rounds of seized Iranian ammunition to the Ukrainian forces. The transfer was conducted on Monday, CENTCOM said in a press release.
The government obtained ownership of these munitions on July 20, 2023, through the Department of Justice's civil forfeiture claims against Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the statement says.
The Biden administration has been weighing for several months now how to legally transfer to Ukrainians the weapons stored at the facilities of the US Central Command throughout the Middle East.
Over the past year, the US Navy has seized thousands of Iranian assault rifles and more than one million rounds of ammunition from vessels used by Iran to ship weapons to Yemen.
The seizures, frequently carried out with regional partner forces, target small stateless vessels on routes historically used to smuggle weapons to the Houthis in Yemen.
The US has recently introduced a new package of sanctions against an international network that helps Iran produce drones.
The US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control is also updating HESA's entry on the Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons (SDN) list to include a new alias that it used to evade sanctions and export controls.
The decision could drive a wedge between Iran and Russia, which have formed a de facto defense partnership over the last several months, with Iran supplying Russia with drones for its war in Ukraine and Russia cooperating with Iran on missile and air defense production.
