France seizes Iran assault rifles, missiles heading to Yemen

By JON GAMBRELL
Associated Press

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — French naval forces in January seized thousands of assault rifles, machine guns and anti-tank missiles earlier this month in the Gulf of Oman coming from Iran heading to Yemen’s Houthi rebels. That’s according to comments by officials on Thursday. While Iran did not immediately acknowledge the seizure, images of the weapons released by the U.S. military’s Central Command showed them to be similar to others captured by American forces in other shipments tied back to Tehran. The announcement comes as Iran faces increasing Western pressure over its shipment of drones to arm Russia during its war on Ukraine, as well as for its violent monthslong crackdown targeting protesters.