Missing US Navy Seals declared dead following raid to seize Iranian weapons bound for Houthis, says American military
Two US Navy Seals who went missing during a night-time raid on a boat off Somalia have been declared dead after a 10-day search failed to find them, military officials have said.
The unnamed pair were reported missing in the Gulf of Aden after commandos targeted the vessel, which was carrying Iranian-made weapons to the Houthi rebels in Yemen, US Central Command (Centcom) said on X.
As the team was boarding the dhow on 11 January, one of them fell into the water during rough seas, and a colleague dived in to help, officials said.
The US military displayed some of the Iranian-made missile components it says it seized in the raid. Pic: Centcom/AP
Centcom said in a statement: “We regret to announce that after a 10-day exhaustive search, our two missing US Navy Seals have not been located and their status has been changed to deceased.
“The search and rescue operation for the two Navy Seals reported missing during the boarding of an illicit dhow carrying Iranian advanced conventional weapons… concluded and we are now conducting recovery operations.”
Centcom commander General Michael Erik Kurilla said: “We mourn the loss of our two naval special warfare warriors, and we will forever honour their sacrifice and example.
“Our prayers are with the Seals’ families, friends, the US Navy, and the entire special operations community during this time.”
In the raid, commandos seized an array of Iranian-made weaponry, including cruise and ballistic missile components such as propulsion and guidance devices and warheads, as well as air defence parts, Centcom said.
The Seals are described on navy.com as “a nimble, elite maritime military force suited for all aspects of unconventional warfare”. Their roles include “conducting insertions and extractions by sea, air or land to accomplish covert, special warfare/special operations missions”.
21,000 square mile search
Spain and Japan helped US teams search more than 21,000 square miles of ocean for the pair, but the 10-day mission had now moved from rescue to recovery, according to Centcom.
Iran is the key backer of the Houthis, the Shia fighters who have been attacking commercial shipping in the Red Sea in support, they say, of Hamas which is being attacked by Israeli forces in Gaza.
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As fears the Israel-Hamas war will lead to a wider regional conflict grow, the US appears to be getting further embroiled.
On Saturday, a number of US soldiers were wounded when Iran-backed armed groups attacked the al Assad airbase in Iraq.
It came hours after Tehran vowed revenge and blamed Israel for a deadly attack on a building housing its elite forces in the Syrian capital, Damascus.
Attacks on US forces in Iraq and Syria have increased since Israel began retaliating, with Washington’s support, for Hamas‘s 7 October massacre last year.
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More than 140 attacks on US assets and personnel by Iranian-backed proxy groups have been recorded, the broadcaster Voice Of America reported.
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The US has carried out a string of strikes against Houthi targets in response to the fighters’ attacks on merchant ships in the Red Sea that have disrupted global trade and raised fears of supply bottlenecks.
On Saturday, US forces hit a Houthi anti-ship missile aimed into the Gulf of Aden and ready to fire, and earlier this month, US forces killed 10 Houthi fighters in the Red Sea.
On Sunday, John Bolton, the former US ambassador to the UN, told Sky News the US could send several Iranian ships helping the Houthis “to the bottom of the Red Sea”.
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He said: “We could attack air defence sites inside Iran. We could go after military headquarters of the Quds Force. We could go after camps where weapons and training have been transferred to various militia groups.
“Our attacks wouldn’t necessarily threaten the mullahs in Tehran, but as long as they are engaged in all this activity in the region – cost free to them – they will continue to do it.
“We have no deterrence now in the region, not even for goodness sake, against the Houthis.”
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.”
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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.
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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.
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