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JERUSALEM —U.S. Navy SEALs seized Iranian-made missile parts and other weapons bound for Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi militants in a raid last week where two service members went missing, the U.S. military said Tuesday.
The SEALs boarded a traditional dhow sailing vessel near the coast of Somalia in international waters of the Arabian Sea, seizing Iranian-made ballistic missile and cruise missile components, including propulsion, guidance, and warheads for Houthi medium range ballistic missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles, according to a statement from U.S. Central Command or CENTCOM, which oversees military operations in the Middle East.
The raid last Thursday marked the "first seizure of advanced Iranian-manufactured ballistic missile and cruise missile components by the U.S. Navy since November 2019," the U.S. military said. As the SEALs were boarding the dhow in rough seas, one SEAL got knocked off by high waves. A fellow SEAL went in after him, and both remain missing.
The U.S. military detained the dhow's 14 crew members and sank the ship after deeming it unsafe, according to CENTCOM. A United Nations resolution bans arms transfers to the Houthis. Iran has denied arming the Houthis despite evidence of the contrary.
The announcement came as Houthi militants attacked another ship traveling through international waters in the region on Tuesday. The Maltese-flagged vessel was struck by a missile and sustained some damage, though no one was wounded, according to officials.
Earlier on Tuesday, U.S. forces destroyed four Houthi anti-ship ballistic missiles that were prepared to launch from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. A U.S. defense official said the ballistic missiles "presented an imminent threat to both merchant and U.S. Navy ships in the region."
The Houthis have launched a series of attacks on commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. The militants say the attacks are due to Israel's war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, but many of the ships targeted have no links to Israel.
The military said missile components seized during last week's raid included parts like those used in recent Houthi attacks. Images released by the U.S. military showed components resembling motors for rockets and what looked like an anti-ship cruise missile's turbojet engine.
The United States, Britain and a handful of other allies answered dozens of Houthi attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden with a series of powerful airstrikes on Friday and Saturday designed to severely degrade the Iranian-backed group's capabilities.
U.S. and U.K. military leaders said the strikes hit dozens of targets ranging from command-and-control nodes, munitions depots, launching sites for drones and missiles, and production facilities.