The US Justice Department has secured indictments against two Iranians and a Pakistani who are accused of charges related to smuggling weapons used in Houthi attacks on shipping.
The charges stem from a US raid on a dhow in January that resulted in the deaths of two Navy SEALs.
A grand jury issued an indictment against Iranian brothers Shahab Mir’kazei and Yunus Mir’kazei, as well as Muhammad Pahlawan of Pakistan.
Court records show that US magistrate judge Mark Colombell followed the indictment by ordering arrest warrants for the Mir’kazeis. Pahlawan is already in custody.
They were all charged with “providing material support to Iran’s weapons of mass destruction programme resulting in death” and with conspiring to do so.
The charges also include “conspiring to commit violence against maritime navigation and maritime transport involving weapons of mass destruction” that resulted in death.
Pahlawan, the captain of the alleged smuggling vessel, was additionally charged with providing false information to US Coast Guard officers and with witness intimidation.
He was apprehended in the raid on the dhow, but the Mir’kazei brothers remain at large.
The new indictment supersedes previous charges filed against Pahlawan and three of the dhow’s crew members in February. All four pleaded not guilty to those charges, court records show.
Houthis’ Iranian backers
Court documents allege that the Mir’kazeis work for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which the US accuses of supporting the Houthis.
Shahab Mir’kazei is the owner of the dhow called the Yunus — apparently named after his brother — that was used in the smuggling operation.
US authorities allege that Pahlawan worked for the brothers and was captain of the dhow, a type of small vessel used in regional trades in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean.
On 11 January, US forces operating from the warship USS Lewis B Puller boarded the Yunus while it was off the coast of Somalia in the Arabian Sea.
One SEAL, the term for members of the US Navy’s elite special operations force, fell into the water in rough seas during the operations and another jumped into the water to save the fallen comrade, Pentagon officials told the New York Times. They both went missing and are presumed dead.
During the interdiction, the boarding team found 14 mariners on the dhow, including Pahlawan.
And they seized what is believed to be Iranian-based weaponry.
“Preliminary analysis of the advanced conventional weaponry indicates that it includes critical components for medium-range ballistic missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles, including a warhead and propulsion and guidance components,” the Justice Department said.
“The type of weaponry found aboard the dhow is allegedly consistent with the weaponry used by the Houthi rebel forces in recent attacks on merchant ships and US military ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.”
Pahlawan, whose defence attorney could not be immediately reached, is also accused of threatening a crew member of the dhow.
If convicted, the three men face a maximum penalty of life in prison.
Eastern District of Virginia assistant US attorneys Troy Edwards and Gavin Tisdale, alongside Justice Department National Security Division counterterrorism section trial attorney Lesley Woods, are prosecuting the case.
