After the coup carried out against the state by the terrorist Houthi militia and its takeover of the capital, Sanaa, on September 21, 2014, the smuggling of weapons by Iran to the Houthis increased in quantity and quality, exceeding Security Council Resolution No. 2216, which prohibits the sale of arms to the Houthis and the coup parties against the state. The smuggled weapons included ballistic missile technologies, drones, advanced naval mines, modern communications equipment, and others.

And a report issued by the United Nations mission submitted to the UN Security Council in April 2015, revealed that Iran has been providing weapons to the Houthis since at least 2009, stressing that during this period, Iran transferred five arms shipments to the Houthis.

And by tracking the shipments of seized weapons, the investigation team stated that it is clear that Iran was initially providing the Houthis with light and medium offensive weapons, various munitions and communications systems, in a way that serves their expansionist battle inside Yemen, starting with the Saada wars and even carrying out the coup. And after the coup, Iranian weapons supplies increased in quantity and quality, and these supplies increased even more with the announcement by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia of the Operation of the Al-Hazm Storm to support the legitimate Yemeni government on March 26, 2015.

And in March 2017, Reuters reported in its report that Iran had intensified sending arms supplies to the Houthis, including advanced weapons, military advisors and other forms of support, stressing that this support "is comparable to the strategy pursued by Tehran to support its ally, the Lebanese Hezbollah group in Syria."

The annual report of the Group of Experts for the year 2017, also confirmed the presence of strong indications of the supply of “weapons-related materials manufactured in or coming from Iran to the Houthis, after the embargo decision, especially short-range ballistic missiles and drones.”

The report indicated that during 2015 and 2016, "only 4 seizures of arms were confirmed in the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Aden," in addition to one seizure carried out by the Arab Alliance in 2016, noting that the arms supply chains that were smuggled during this period were limited to offensive weapons or tens of tons of ammunition, adding that it identified "2,064 weapons that are directly attributed to an Iranian manufacturer or of Iranian origin."

And below we present monitoring of the most important arms smuggling operations by Iran to the Houthis, which were confiscated before reaching them. And all these smuggling operations took place after their coup against the legitimate authority and then the outbreak of the Operation of the Al-Hazm Storm, and to this day:

- During the period between September 2015 and March 2016, the US fleet carried out four-interception operations of Iranian ships loaded with weapons shipments destined for the Houthis.

- September 2015: The Arab Alliance forces intercepted a ship southeast of the port of Salalah and arrested its 14 crew members. This ship included anti-tank missiles, missile battery crews, guidance systems, batteries for binoculars, launchers and a launcher holder.

February 2016: The Australian frigate "Darwin" confiscated large quantities of weapons on board a fishing boat off the coast of Oman, which included 2,000 weapons, including machine guns, 100 rocket launchers, automatic rifles, mortar launchers and various ammunitions.

- March 20, 2016: The French frigate "Provence" stopped a boat near the island of Socotra and confiscated large quantities of weapons, including 2,000 Kalashnikovs, 64 Iranian sniper rifles and 9 Russian Kornet anti-tank missiles.

- March 28, 2016: The US destroyer "Siroko" intercepted the ship "Adris" and confiscated its cargo of weapons, including 1,500 AK47 Kalashnikov assault rifles, 200 RPG-7 launchers, and 21 50-mm automatic machine guns.

- April 2016: US forces managed to seize an Iranian weapons shipment hidden in a dhow that was on its way to the Houthis. And this shipment included 1,500 Kalashnikov rifles, 200 rocket-propelled grenades and 21 automatic rifles of 50 mm caliber.

December 2016: Security forces in Marib seized a truck loaded with reconnaissance drones on its way to the Houthis in Sanaa.

- January 2017: A shipment of industrial process equipment was seized near Marib, including two tanks designated for hazardous chemicals used to oxidize Scud fuel or other short-range ballistic missile systems.

- January 31, 2017: Anti-tank guided missiles with characteristics very similar to those of the Iranian-made "Dehlavieh" projectile seized by the French Navy ship "La Provence" on March 20, 2016.

February 2017: Security services in Marib seized a shipment of industrial mixing equipment, one of the two storage containers filled with liquid missile fuel used as a propellant in a Scud-B missile, and this equipment is used in the framework of the missile program.

- October 2017: The Yemeni government announced the seizure of an Iranian smuggling ship, which was carrying 29 sailors after it entered Yemeni waters west of the Socotra archipelago in the Indian Ocean.

December 2018: In Aden, the Arab Alliance to Support legitimacy seized weapons and weapons-related materials included 1-56 type assault rifles, RPG-7 launchers, and rifle scopes associated with.

- January 2019: In Al-Jawf, the security services seized a large shipment of weapons, which included 3 tons of components for drones.

- April 2020: The Saudi Navy intercepted a large shipment of small arms and light weapons that was loaded on a Yemeni dhow about 90 nautical miles from the port of Nishtun.

- June 2019: The Australian Navy managed to seize a dhow in the Gulf of Oman, and this dhow was carrying 476,000 rounds of 7.62 mm ammunition and 697 bags of chemical fertilizer. This dhow sailed from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas on June 19, 2019, towards Somalia and Yemen.

- Between November 2019 and June 2020, 191 launch container units with similar technical characteristics to the Kornet 9M133 anti-tank guided missile were seized on board dhows in the Gulf of Aden.

December 2019: The US Navy managed to seize a large shipment of Iranian missile parts that were on their way to the Houthis.

February 9, 2020: In the Arabian Sea, the US forces managed to seize three surface-to-air missiles and 150 anti-tank missiles, and in late 2019 they also seized similar shipments.

- April 2020: The naval forces of the Arab Alliance in support of legitimacy managed to thwart the smuggling of an Iranian weapons shipment off the Yemeni coast, which was on its way to the Houthi militia.

- In April and June 2020: A total of 4,300 types 1-56 assault rifles with a caliber of 39/7.62 mm were seized in two naval seizures.

- May 7, 2020: The Yemeni Coast Guard forces have arrested an Iranian weapons smuggling cell in the Bab al-Mandab area. This cell consists of four people, all of whom come from the districts of Al-Khoukha and Hays in the coastal governorate of Al-Hodeidah. These people were working in the fishing profession before they were recruited by Houthi leaders at different times between 2015 and 2019 to work within the Iranian arms smuggling network to Yemen.

- June 2020: The Saudi Navy was managed to intercept a large shipment of small arms and light weapons on board a Galbot dhow with a Somali crew on board, 70 nautical miles northeast of Bosaso.

- May 8, 2021: The US Navy managed to seize a ship carrying thousands of weapons, including portable and thermal anti-armor missiles and modern rifles, and the US authorities said that the last place in which the ship passed before its inspection was the Iranian ports.

- November 10, 2021: The Global Initiative to Combat Transnational Organized Crime has said that weapons Iran has provided to its Houthi allies in Yemen are being smuggled across the Gulf of Aden to Somalia, in which the al-Shabab fighters linked to al-Qaeda are fighting a weak and divided government.

The Initiative, a Geneva-based research organization, added that its report was based on data from more than 400 weapons documented at 13 locations across Somalia over an eight-month period and stockpiles of 13 boats intercepted by military ships.

This is the first public study of its kind on the extent of arms smuggling from Yemen to the Horn of Africa country.

December 8, 2021: In an operation described as the largest of its kind, Washington announced the confiscation of the largest shipments of Iranian weapons and oil in the Arabian Sea while it was carrying out routine maritime security operations. It also confiscated Iranian oil from 4 tankers.

In a statement, the US Department of Justice said that the confiscated Iranian weapons contained 171 surface-to-air missiles and 8 anti-tank missiles, and nearly one million and 100,000 barrels of Iranian oil products were confiscated, and those shipments of weapons and oil were on their way to the Houthis.