US Arms Ukraine With Weapons From Top Russian Ally

The United States has delivered over 5,000 firearms and hundreds of thousands of rounds to Ukraine's military after obtaining the weapons from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

According to U.S. Central Command, over 5,000 AK-47s, machine guns, sniper rifles and RPG-7s were sent to the Ukrainian armed forces last week, alongside 500,000 rounds of ammunition. The equipment is enough to arm one Ukrainian brigade, read a post to X, formerly Twitter from Central Command, who added that the "weapons will help Ukraine defend against Russia's invasion."

The U.S. government originally obtained ownership of the weapons on December 1, 2023, through civil forfeiture claims against the IRGC. Central Command said in its statement that the munitions were "originally seized by U.S. Central Command and partner naval forces from four separate transiting stateless vessels" between May 2021 and February 2023.