WASHINGTON — US Navy ships and planes scoured areas of the Gulf of Aden on Monday in search of two missing US Navy SEALs as details emerged of their mission to board and take over a ship carrying Iranian ballistic missile parts for the medium range, heading to Somalia, a US defense official said. said Monday.
The official said the crew of the dhow, which had no country flag, planned to transfer the missile parts, including warheads and engines, to another boat off the coast of Somalia. The Navy recognized the boat as one with a history of transporting illegal weapons from Iran to Somalia, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details that have not been made public.
The SEALs were on the USS Lewis B. Puller, a Navy expeditionary ship at sea, and traveled in small special operations combat craft piloted by Navy Special Operations crews to reach the boat. As they boarded in rough seas around 8 p.m. local time, a SEAL was repelled by high waves and a teammate chased after him. Both are missing.
The team boarding the small boat faced a dozen crew members. The crew members taken into custody did not have papers, which allowed the ship to be searched. The weapons were seized and the boat was scuttled, a routine procedure that usually involves blowing holes in the hull.
U.S. officials have said the waters in the Gulf of Aden are warm and that Navy SEALs are trained for such emergencies. On Monday, navy ships, helicopters and drones were involved in the ongoing search.
The US Navy has conducted regular interdiction missions in the region, including intercepting weapons on ships bound for the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen.
Officials have said the SEAL mission was not related to Operation Prosperity Guardian, the ongoing U.S. and international mission to provide protection for commercial ships in the Red Sea, or the retaliatory strikes the United States and United Kingdom have carried out in Yemen over the past two days.
