Washington — Four foreign nationals who were allegedly transporting Iranian-made weapons on a vessel that two U.S. Navy SEALs drowned trying to board have been brought to the U.S. to face criminal charges, making their first appearance in court on Thursday.
The defendants — Muhammad Pahlawan, Mohammad Mazhar, Ghufran Ullah and Izhar Muhammad — were taken into custody when a U.S. Navy ship intercepted their small boat in the Arabian Sea on Jan. 11. The vessel, or dhow, was allegedly destined for Yemen.
A team of SEALs from the USS Lewis Puller and a U.S. Coast Guard response team boarded the unflagged boat in a nighttime raid and seized “what is believed to be Iranian-made advanced conventional weaponry,” according to charging documents unsealed Thursday. A total of 14 crew members were on board. In addition to the four co-defendants, eight of the remaining 10 witnesses are also in U.S. custody.
Prosecutors wrote that the vessel was transporting “propulsion and guidance components” for medium-range ballistic missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles, as well as a warhead. The weapons were likely intended for Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have attacked dozens of commercial and military vessels in recent months, according to investigators.
The Navy SEALs’ deaths
Two of the SEALs — Special Warfare Operators Christopher Chambers and Nathan Ingram — were lost at sea during the mission. Defense officials told CBS News at the time that they fell overboard in rough seas while trying to board the dhow. After a 10-day search, the military declared the two SEALs deceased.
None of the defendants have been charged directly with the SEALs’ deaths. According to prosecutors, Pakistani identification cards matching their names were found onboard their boat.
The seizure was the first time the U.S. military intercepted weapons from Iran destined for the Houthis since the rebel group ramped up their attacks on commercial shipping and international warships in the Red Sea in November 2023.
According to court papers, all of the crewmembers denied smuggling the weapons once they were in custody, though a few admitted to being drug smugglers. Other crew members identified Pahlawan as the leader of the group. He said he had been in Iran for two years and that the ship left Iran six days before it was intercepted by the Navy.
Pahlawan said the ship’s Iranian owner gave him a satellite phone to communicate while at sea. Investigators said the phone received calls from a number associated with a member of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite branch of the country’s military.
U.S. investigators said that the ship originated in Iran on a route that included a stop in Somalia. The path was “consistent with other weapons smuggling operations,” the government said.
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