US charges two Iranians and Pakistani with 'providing material support to terrorists'

After boarding boat off coast of Somalia, US troops allegedly found and seized 'Iranian-made advanced conventional weaponry'

The Department of Justice building in Washington. EPA

Two Iranians and a Pakistani have been charged in the US with providing support to Tehran's weapons of mass destruction programme, the Justice Department said.

The men are accused of involvement in actions that led to the deaths of two US Navy Seals this year.

Brothers Shahab and Yunus Mir’kazei work for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, while Muhammad Pahlawan is the captain of a smuggling boat, the department said. The US has designated the IRGC as a terrorist organisation.

They have been charged with “conspiring to provide and providing material support to Iran’s weapons of mass destruction programme, resulting in death, and conspiring to commit violence against maritime navigation and maritime transport involving weapons of mass destruction resulting in death”.

On January 11, troops with US Central Command operating from the USS Lewis B Puller boarded Mr Pahlawan's boat off the coast of Somalia.

The team allegedly found and seized “Iranian-made, advanced conventional weaponry”, including what were believed to be parts for medium-range ballistic missiles and anti-ship cruise missiles.

“The type of weaponry found aboard the dhow is allegedly consistent with the weaponry used by the Houthi rebel forces in recent attacks on merchant ships and US military ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden,” the Justice Department said.

While the boarding team was searching the boat, one of the Navy Seals accompanying the mission fell into the water and another jumped in after him. They were declared dead after a 10-day search.

Mr Pahlawan has also been accused of giving false information to the US Coast Guard during the boarding, and witness intimidation for threatening one of the members of his crew.

He is awaiting trial, while the Mir'kazei brothers are still at large.

On Tuesday, a Pakistani man with ties to Iran was charged in the US in connection to an alleged attempt to assassinate an American politician or official.