Iran dismisses UK Navy's 'baseless' claim of 'having seized a shipment of Iranian arms'

Iranian authorities on Saturday rejected what they called UK's "baseless" claim that the Royal Navy has seized a "shipment of Iranian arms" in the Gulf of Oman that was bound for Yemen. UK Navy's, in a statement, said that it "seized anti-tank missiles and fins for ballistic missile assemblies during a raid on a small boat heading from Iran likely to Yemen" in the Gulf of Oman. It further added that US fixed-wing Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) platform helped in detecting a suspected smuggling vessel travelling at high speed in international waters in the Gulf of Oman during the hours of darkness.

Iran slams US & UK as 'biggest exporter of weaponry'

Iran on Saturday, debunked UK's claims, as Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nasser Kanaani, in a statement, said  that the countries that supply weapons worth billions of US dollars to the "coalition" [referring to NATO] "cannot exonerate themselves by accusing others." The Iranian Foreign ministry accused the UK of being the "biggest exporter of weaponry and military equipment" in the world's conflict zones. Kanaani alleged that the UK and the US "mislead global public opinion through making unfounded claims and spreading false news," according to the ministry's statement on the website. Kanaani also accused the West of imposing war on the Yemeni people and called for the UK and the US to end the "opportunistic profiteering" approach by waging wars in the Middle east. 

In an earlier statement, the UK's Navy had noted that the Iranian vessel was tracked by HMS Lancaster’s Wildcat helicopter. UK Navy noted that the alleged smugglers "initially ignored hails from the Royal Navy and attempted to navigate to Iranian territorial waters but were apprehended before they could do so." The UK accused the Islamic Republic of breaching international law. A team of Royal Marines stopped and boarded the vessel, they said. Suspicious packages were recovered from HMS Lancaster. The packages, said by the UK Navy, included anti-tank guided missiles (Iranian versions of the Russian 9M133 Kornet, known in Iran as ‘Dehlavieh’), and medium-range ballistic missile components. The UK government further noted in the statement that it informed the United Nations about the seizure and "invited to conduct its own inspection of the materiel, in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions 2216 and 2231."

"Our Royal Marine Boarding Team then intercepted the skiff and carried out a search which revealed the weapons. Royal Navy EOD specialists checked the weapons to ensure that they were safe to bring them back onboard Lancaster," Commander Paul Irving, Commanding Officer of HMS Lancaster had noted.