Are Seized Iranian Weapons Finding their Way to Ukraine?

  • Defensemirror.com bureau
  • 05:46 PM, March 3, 2023
  • 1109
Are Seized Iranian Weapons Finding their Way to Ukraine?
Huge cache of iranian weapons seized by the U.S. Navy @USNavy

Recent usage of Iran-manufactured weapons by the Ukrainain Army have raised questions regarding the origin of these weapons- whether given by the U.S. and its Western allies from the stock of seized Iranian arms on way to Yemen.
Iran-made 120mm high-explosive mortar rounds were found in the possession of the Ukrainian Army according to Ukraine Weapons Tracker (UWT) OSINT channel. Ukrainain soldiers of the 24th Mechanized Brigade have published a photo of the use of Iranian M48 120mm mortar rounds.
"According to the analysts who verified the shells from the photo, the number of Iranian 120mm mortar rounds in the arsenals of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is measured “not by hundreds or even thousands of shells, because there are more of them”, Ukraine UWT reports on its Twitter page.

Are Seized Iranian Weapons Finding their Way to Ukraine?
Ukrainain soldier carrying Iranian 120mm mortar shell @UkraineWeaponsTracker

Earlier UWT posted a video of Iran-origin 125mm OF19 tank ammunition in the hands of Ukrainain tank crew.
The Wall Street Journal reported on February 14, "U.S. officials said they are looking at sending Ukraine more than 5,000 assault rifles, 1.6 million rounds of small arms ammunition, a small number of antitank missiles, and more than 7,000 proximity fuses seized in recent months off the Yemen."
The move could be prompted by NATO's rapidly depleting stock of weapons after giving them to Ukraine. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said last week, “The war in Ukraine is consuming an enormous amount of munitions and depleting allied stockpiles. “The current rate of Ukraine’s ammunition expenditure is many times higher than our current rate of production.”

Are Seized Iranian Weapons Finding their Way to Ukraine?
Iran-made Kornet ATGMs seized from Yemen-bound boat

The weapons could also be coming from former Soviet Bloc countries who are in the process of de-inventorizing their Russian origin weapons as UWT reports, "Recently information resurfaced that Serbia sold 3500 Grad rockets to Ukraine via a third party. Grad is a Russian-origin MLRS system."
Referring to Iranian weapons seizures, The U.S. Navy Central Command announced on March 2, "In the past three months, seven major interdictions have resulted in U.S. and partner maritime forces seizing more than 5,000 weapons, 1.6 million rounds of ammunition, 7,000 proximity fuses for rockets, 2,100 kilograms of propellant used to launch rocket propelled grenades, 30 anti-tank guided missiles, medium-range ballistic missile components."
The U.S. government has not stated what is does with the weapons seized from Iranian boats.

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