Two men with ties to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps now face terrorism charges in the US in connection with the interception of a ship in the Arabian Sea that killed two Navy SEALs earlier this year.
The new indictment, announced Thursday by federal prosecutors in Richmond, Virginia, charges two Iranian brothers, Shahab Mir’kazei and Yunus Mir’kazei, as well as a Pakistani captain, Muhammad Pahlawan, with providing material support to Iran’s weapons of mass destruction program, among other charges.
The brothers are at large. Pahlawan and three of his crew have been in custody since the Navy SEAL team intercepted their small vessel, a dhow, in January.
As they boarded the dhow, U.S. officials said Navy Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Christopher J. Chambers fallen overboard because the high waves created a gap between the two boats.
As Chambers fell, Nathan Gage Ingram, Special Warfare Operator 2nd Class, jumped in to rescue him, according to U.S. officials familiar with the incident.
Both Chambers and Ingram were pronounced dead after an 11-day search failed to locate either.
A search of the dhow found several Iranian weapons, including parts for cruise missiles and ballistic missiles, according to court documents.
U.S. officials say the dhow was part of an effort to deliver weapons to Houthi rebels in Yemen. The Houthis are also said to have stepped up attacks on merchant ships and U.S. military vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden as a result of the war between Israel and Hamas.
The Houthis have been designated a terrorist group by the State Department since February, the indictment said. The Revolutionary Guards have been designated a terrorist group by the State Department since 2019.
The new indictment provides additional details linking the dhow to Iran. It alleges that the two brothers working for the Revolutionary Guards paid Pahlawan 1.7 billion rials — about $40,000 in U.S. dollars — to carry out multiple smuggling operations from Iran to the Somali coast near Yemen.
The federal public defender’s office, which is assigned to represent Pahlawan, declined to comment Thursday. The two Iranians, who are not in custody, have no listed attorneys. Arrest warrants for both brothers were issued Wednesday.