Procurement: Iran Fails To Deliver

Archives

December 11, 2009: Off the Yemen coast, Saudi warships recently destroyed two boats that were attempting to smuggle weapons to Shia Yemeni rebels along the Saudi-Yemen border. The two boats refused to halt when ordered to, and attempted to flee. Saudi patrol boats and helicopters fired on the two boats, which exploded, indicating they were carrying munitions and explosives, along with weapons. The crews of the two boats were killed in the explosions.

For nearly a month now, Saudi Arabian warships have been maintaining a blockade on Yemen's Red Sea coast, to prevent Iranian arms smugglers from getting weapons to the Shia rebels fighting in northern Yemen. On October 26th, Yemeni patrol boats in the Red Sea, seized an Iranian ship, carrying weapons, apparently meant for the Yemeni rebels. It is believed that Eritrea, just across the Red Sea from Yemen, is a base for the smugglers trying to get weapons to Yemen. Eritrea is also an ally of Iran, and serves as a base for shipping weapons to Islamic terrorists in Somalia as well.

 

X

ad

Help Keep Us From Drying Up

We need your help! Our subscription base has slowly been dwindling.

Each month we count on your contribute. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   contribute   Close