US hands Ukraine more than a million rounds of ammunition it seized from Iranian ship
The United States has sent over a million rounds of ammunition it seized from an Iranian ship last December to Ukraine.
Officials at the Pentagon have confirmed to Sky News the transfer of 1.1 million rounds of 7.62mm small arms ammunition to Ukraine took place on Monday this week.
The ammunition, standard rounds for Soviet-era Kalashnikov assault rifles and their derivatives used by the Ukrainian military, are understood to have been stored at US military facilities in the Middle East.
The move will help to alleviate an increasingly critical shortage of ammunition available to Ukraine as it continues its counteroffensive against Russia.
According to a statement released by the US military’s Central Command in Tampa, Florida, the rounds were seized by the US Navy in December when it intercepted a vessel in the Persian Gulf.
“These munitions were originally seized by US Central Command naval forces from the transiting stateless dhow Marwan 1, 9 December, 2022,” the statement said.
“The munitions were being transferred from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps [Iranian military] to the Houthis in Yemen in violation of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2216.”
The move raises legal questions because United Nations regulations require nations to destroy or store seized weapons.
US officials are using civil forfeiture tools to give them what they believe is the legal authority to make the transfers.
A Defence Department spokesperson told Sky News: “This forfeiture action is a product of the US government’s coordinated effort to enforce US sanctions against… the Iranian regime. On 20 July, 2023, a final order of forfeiture was issued by a US District Court.”
The spokesperson added: “Iran’s transfer of lethal aid to militant groups in Yemen violates United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 2216 and international law and fuels regional instability. US support, in contrast, is provided in accordance with international law and to a recognised government defending its sovereign territory.”
It’s likely that the same pathway will be used to transfer more ammunition and weapons systems seized from Iran.
A US Justice Department document, published in March this year, reveals how a US Navy ship, the USS Lewis B Puller, intercepted a flagless vessel called the Marwan 1 in the Persian Gulf in December 2022.
“A security team from the USS Lewis B Puller boarded the Marwan 1, which was manned by 11 Somali nationals, one Kenyan national, and one Pakistani national. Items discovered by the security team, which were laden on board the Marwan 1, consisted of a cargo of munitions made for conventional weapons,” the document says.
Cartridges were part of the haul. Pic: US Department of Justice
Read more:
Missile that struck Poland grain silo in 2022 was fired by Ukraine
As Ukraine targets Russia’s fleet – is bigger still better in the military?
The document explains how the weapons were concealed. “The Iranian Navy… loaded it with ammunition and explosives, prior to placing oranges, apples, and soft drinks on top of the cargo of munitions as concealment.”
This week, a top NATO official issued a stark warning about the shortage of weapons and ammunition available to Ukraine.
“The bottom of the barrel is now visible…” Dutch Admiral Rob Bauer, chair of the NATO Military Committee, told the Warsaw Security Forum.
In Washington, continued funding for Ukraine is in doubt because of a political chaos on Capitol Hill.
Ukraine funding was not included in the latest stopgap spending bill passed at the weekend. The uncertainty was compounded this week when House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, an advocate for Ukraine funding, was ousted.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Will Trump address parliament on UK state visit?
This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
Read more from Sky News:
Kate’s ’emotional’ words for tearful tennis star
Music festival cancelled as headliner pulls out
Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
A farmer who fell from a greenhouse roof during an anti-immigrant raid at a licensed cannabis facility in California this week has died of his injuries.
Jaime Alanis, 57, is the first person to die as a result of Donald Trump’s Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (ICE) raids.
His niece, Yesenia Duran, posted on the fundraising site GoFundMe to say her uncle was his family’s only provider and he had been sending his earnings back to his wife and daughter in Mexico.
The United Food Workers said Mr Alanis had worked on the farm for 10 years.
“These violent and cruel federal actions terrorise American communities, disrupt the American food supply chain, threaten lives and separate families,” the union said in a recent statement on X.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Who is being targeted in Trump’s immigration raids?
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it executed criminal search warrants at Glass House Farms facilities on Thursday.
Mr Alanis called family to say he was hiding and possibly fleeing agents before he fell around 30ft (9m) from the roof and broke his neck, according to information from family, hospital and government sources.
Agents arrested 200 people suspected of being in the country illegally and identified at least 10 immigrant children on the sites, the DHS said in a statement.
Mr Alanis was not among them, the agency said.
“This man was not in and has not been in CBP (Customs and Border Protection) or ICE custody,” DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin said.
“Although he was not being pursued by law enforcement, this individual climbed up to the roof of a greenhouse and fell 30ft. CBP immediately called a medivac to the scene to get him care as quickly as possible.”
Read more:
Trump announces 30% tariff on imports from EU
President threatens to revoke US comedian’s citizenship
Four US citizens were arrested during the incident for allegedly “assaulting or resisting officers”, the DHS said, and authorities were offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of a person suspected of firing a gun at federal agents.
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
In a statement, Glass House, a licensed Cannabis grower, said immigration agents had valid warrants. It said workers were detained and it is helping provide them with legal representation.
“Glass House has never knowingly violated applicable hiring practices and does not and has never employed minors,” it added.
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports2 years agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Sports2 years agoButton battles heat exhaustion in NASCAR debut
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike