France Seizes Iranian Weapons En Route to Yemen

The French military, cooperating with United States forces, seized a large cache of Iranian weapons in the Gulf of Oman on January 15. Much of the details are still unreleased, but the U.S. claimed yesterday they were caught along a maritime route Iran has used before to send weapons to the Houthis, an Iranian proxy group fighting in Yemen.

The French reportedly captured over 3,000 assault rifles, along with at least half a million rounds of ammunition and over 20 antitank missiles. The Wall Street Journal stated the French operation “is the outgrowth of a more proactive French role in challenging weapons smuggling in the Middle East.”

The context: Yemen has over 30 million people and sits on the Bab el-Mandeb strait, which connects the Red Sea with the Indian Ocean. The Red Sea empties via the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean. Yemen has been embroiled for years in an uprising led by the Islamist Houthi rebels. If the Houthis were to take control of all of Yemen, this could give Iran control over this important trade route.

What to watch: Many see the various conflicts in the Middle East as a shadow war between America and Iran. But Europe is increasingly taking a more assertive role against Tehran. Expect the Europe-Iran rivalry to expand in the future. To learn more, request Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry’s free booklet Germany’s Secret Strategy to Destroy Iran.