Washington wants to keep the Iranian-seized ammunition headed for Yemen

 The Justice Department announced on Friday that the US is attempting to retain possession of more than 1 million rounds of ammunition that the US Navy captured in December as it was being transported from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to extremists in Yemen.

Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement that "the United States foiled a major operation by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to transport weapons of war into the hands of a militant group in Yemen."

Thousands of proximity fuses for rocket-propelled grenades as well as more than a million rounds of ammunition are among the weapons that the Justice Department is now requesting be forfeited.

On December 1, US navy forces in the Gulf of Oman stopped a fishing trawler carrying more than 50 tons of rocket propellant, fuses, and artillery rounds that were being smuggled from Iran to Yemen, according to the Navy.

According to the report, they discovered over 1,100 kg of propellant needed to launch rocket-propelled grenades, 25,000 rounds of 12.7mm ammunition, almost 7,000 proximity fuses for rockets, and over 1 million rounds of 7.62mm ammunition.

According to the Justice Department, the forfeiture action is a component of a larger federal investigation into an Iranian weapons-smuggling network that aids in the Houthi movement's military operations in Yemen and the Iranian regime's campaign of terrorist actions across the region.

According to the forfeiture complaint, the IRGC used a cunning plan to covertly export weapons to organizations that seriously endanger US national security.