Royal Navy ship HMS Montrose at sea during Baltic operations in this photo taken June 15, 2014. Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Adam C. Stapleton/US Navy/Handout via R
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RIYADH, July 7 (R) – Britain’s Royal Navy said Thursday one of its warships seized Iranian weapons, including surface-to-air missiles and engines for cruise missiles, from smugglers in international waters south of Iran earlier this year.
A helicopter from the frigate HMS Montrose on January 28 and February 25 spotted speedboats moving away from the Iranian coast and dozens of packages containing the advanced weapons were seized, the Royal Navy said in a statement.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry dismissed the British claim, accusing it of complicity in the war against Yemen by selling arms to the Saudi-led coalition.
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“By continuously selling advanced weapons to the self-proclaimed military coalition against the defenseless people of Yemen, Britain has been a partner in the war and aggression against Yemen, and it is in no position to level such baseless allegations against the Islamic Republic of Iran and take Put on a humanitarian face,” the ministry said in a tweet, quoting its spokesman Nasser Kanaani.
Therefore, he said, Britain “does not have the moral authority to make a claim against the Islamic Republic of Iran”.
The Royal Navy said: “The seized packages were returned to the UK for technical analysis, which revealed the shipment contained multiple rocket engines for the Iran-made 351 land-attack cruise missiles and a batch of 358 surface-to-air missiles. “
It did not say where the missiles were aimed, but said the 351 cruise missile, with a range of 1,000 km (620 miles), is often used by the Houthi group in Yemen to attack Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The US Navy destroyer USS Gridley supported the seizure in February, the Royal Navy said. Both seizures occurred while HMS Montrose was conducting routine security operations at sea, she added.
“This action shows that we will not allow Iran’s irresponsible and aggressive actions on land, sea and air to go unchecked,” US Central Command spokesman Colonel Joseph Buccino said in a statement.
Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have been at war with the Iran-allied Houthis since 2015, in a conflict widely viewed as a proxy war between the two Western-backed Gulf Arab states and Iran.
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Reporting by Jonathan Landay, Parisa Hafezi and Phil Stewart, writing by Aziz El Yaakoubi, editing by Robert Birsel and Kim Coghill
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