Assault rifles and missiles seized by the French navy lay on the deck of a ship at an undisclosed location [US military’s Central Command via AP]
Wed 04 October 2023:
The United States has transferred to Ukraine 1.1 million rounds of small arms ammunition that it seized from Iran, says US Central Command.
The rounds were seized by Central Command naval forces in December off of a vessel the command described as a “stateless dhow”, a traditional wooden sailing ship, that was being used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to support the Houthis in Yemen’s civil war in violation of a UN Security Council resolution.
US Central Command says the US “obtained ownership of these munitions on July 20, 2023, through the Department of Justice’s civil forfeiture claims against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.”
While Ukraine will use the 7.62mm ammunition seized from Iran in its fight against Russia, Iran has been supplying Russia with Shahed-136 drones that its forces have used in Ukraine against both civilian and military targets.
The announcement comes after Reuters and CNN reported earlier that Washington was planning to plug the shortage in Ukraine’s weapons stocks by transferring seized Iranian weapons and ammunition to its military.
Biden says he is worried Republican infighting could hurt Ukraine aid
US President Joe Biden says that he is worried Republican infighting could hurt Ukraine aid and promised to deliver a speech soon to outline why the US needs to continue to support Ukraine.
Asked if he was concerned that the United States would not be able to deliver the aid that it has promised to Ukraine because of the disarray on Capitol Hill, Biden said: “It does worry me … but I know there are a majority of members of the House and Senate in both parties who have said that they support funding Ukraine.”
The president also indicated that there was another avenue that the US could use to fund Ukraine aside from the tranches of aid that were getting congressional approval.
“There is another means by which we may be able to find funding for that,” Biden said. He declined to give further details, and the White House also declined to go beyond Biden’s comment.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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