Did you know the United States confiscated weapons to Ukraine?

In April 2024, Washington transferred thousands of arms and munitions that had been confiscated while en route to rebels in Yemen and eventually sent those guns and ammunition on to Ukraine according to the U.S. Department of Defense.

On April 4th, five thousand machine guns, sniper rifles, and reusable shoulder-launched rockets as well as over five hundred thousand rounds of ammunition were transferred to the Ukrainian Armed Forces from the United States.

Photo Credit: Twitter @CENTCOM

The weapons and ammunition transfer was enough material to equip one brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces with small arms rifles according to the U.S. Central Command, which noted that the guns and ammunition would “help Ukraine defend against Russia’s invasion.”

The armaments were seized by the U.S. Central Command and its partnered naval allies in the Arabian Sea from four different stateless vessels sailing in the Arabian Sea between May 2021 and February 2023. 

Photo Credit: Twitter @CENTCOM

A Department of Justice press release added that two interdiction missions in 2021 and two in 2023 resulted in “the discovery and seizure of four large caches of conventional weapons," according to Central Command.

Photo Credit: Twitter @CENTCOM

Included in the weapons discovered were “long arms and anti-tank missiles, and related munitions.” All of the munitions were determined to be of either Russian, Chinese, or Iranian origin. 

Houthi rebels in Yemen were the final destination of the seized munitions and originated from the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which was a violation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2216. 

“U.S. CENTCOM is committed to working with our allies and partners to counter the flow of Iranian lethal aid in the region by all lawful means including U.S. and U.N. sanctions and through interdictions,” U.S. Central Command wrote in a Twitter post at the time. 

U.S. Central Command added the United States government took over ownership of the seized weapons on December 1st, 2023 through the use of the Department of Justice’s “civil forfeiture claims against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.”

U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said in a statement that “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.”

“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,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. 

Assistant Attorney General for National Security Matthew G. Olsen also commented on the weapons transfer and said that the Department of Justice was taking weapons out of the hands of terrorists and into the hands of those defending their homeland.    

Olsen continued by saying that the Department of Justice “would continue to use the full reach of our authorities to disrupt the Iranian government’s efforts to undermine stability and to support the Ukrainian people’s stance against tyranny.”

Iran has been one of the few major public allies of Russia since Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion of Ukraine. Russia has deepened both its partnership and economic ties with Tehran over the last two years according to Rand Corporation. 

Rand also noted that the Iranians have become a “critical military supplier” for Moscow and have provided Russia with “unmanned aerial systems, ballistic missiles, and fighter jets.” These weapons have been used to devastating effect. 

The transfer of weapons and ammunition to Ukraine on April 4th followed a March 2023 forfeiture action that saw the United States transfer over one million rounds of ammo that was seized en route from Iran to Yemen.