A US federal court in Virginia has sentenced a Pakistani national, Muhammad Pehlwan, to 40 years in prison after finding him guilty of illegally smuggling missiles and weapons to Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
According to the BBC, Pehlwan, aged 49, was accused of transporting Iranian-made ballistic missile components and other arms from Iran to Yemen by disguising himself and his crew as fishermen. He was convicted on June 5, 2025, after being charged with multiple counts of arms trafficking and violating international sanctions.
Pehlwan was arrested in January 2024 during a US Navy special operation in the Arabian Sea, during which two American sailors drowned. The US military described the operation as a major success in disrupting Iran’s weapons supply network to the Houthis.
Investigators revealed that Pehlwan had previously completed two successful smuggling missions from Iran’s Chabahar port in October and December 2023, recruiting around 12 Pakistani workers seeking employment in Iran for the operation.
A crew member testified that on January 11, they awoke to the sound of US naval ships and helicopters, but Pehlwan mistook them for pirates and warned his men not to stop the vessel. The US Navy and Coast Guard personnel reportedly faced strong resistance before seizing the ship and detaining the crew.
The US military said the seizure marked the first major Iranian weapons consignment captured after the Houthis began attacking commercial vessels in the Red Sea months earlier.
