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A Pakistani national was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison for his part in running a smuggling ring that funneled Iranian-made advanced arms to the Houthis, a deadly mission that led to the deaths of two U.S. Navy SEALs in the Arabian Sea.
A federal jury convicted Muhammad Pahlawan June 5, 2025, of conspiring to provide material support and resources to terrorists and to Iran’s weapons of mass destruction program, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). He was also found guilty of conspiring to transport explosive devices to the Houthis, knowing they would be used to cause harm, and of threatening his crew.
According to court records, U.S. Central Command Navy forces operating from the USS Lewis B. Puller — including Navy SEALs and members of the U.S. Coast Guard Maritime Security Response Team East — boarded a small vessel Jan. 11.
The boarding team encountered 14 people on the vessel, including Pahlawan. During the search, they seized Iranian-made advanced conventional weaponry, including ballistic missile components, anti-ship cruise missile components and a warhead.
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The DOJ said the type of weaponry found on the vessel was consistent with arms used by Houthi rebel forces targeting merchant and U.S. military ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden after the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel.
Pahlawan lied to the boarding team and told other crew members to lie, threatening their lives and the lives of their families.
Two Navy SEALs — Navy Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Christopher J. Chambers and Navy Special Warfare Operator 2nd Class Nathan Gage Ingram — died during the encounter. The DOJ said Ingram began climbing a ladder onto the boat when he slipped and fell into a gap created by waves between the vessel and the SEAL watercraft.
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As Ingram went under, Chambers jumped into the gap to try and save him.
The DOJ said the Navy conducted an extensive search to find and rescue the SEALs, but they were declared dead Jan. 22.
Pahlawan’s trip that day was part of a larger operation, the DOJ added, explaining that from August 2023 through January 2024, he worked with two Iranian brothers — Shahab Mir’kazei and Yunus Mir’kazei — affiliated with the IRGC to smuggle materials from Iran to recipients, including Houthi rebel forces in Yemen.
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He completed multiple smuggling missions by carrying cargo from Iran to the coast of Somalia, where he transferred it to another vessel during nighttime ship-to-ship operations, the DOJ said.
Pahlawan also worked with Shahab and Yunus to prepare the vessel for multiple smuggling missions, obtained coordinates from them for ship-to-ship transfers and was paid for his role in the operation.
On Feb. 11, 2024, the U.S. secured arrest warrants for four of the foreign nationals, identified as Pahlawan, Mohammad Mazhar, Ghufran Ullah and Izhar Muhammad.
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The four men, who were found with Pakistani identification cards, were transferred from the USS Lewis B. Fuller to the Eastern District of Virginia.
Mazhar, Ullah and Muhammad were also charged with providing materially false information to U.S. Coast Guard officers during the boarding of the vessel regarding the vessel’s crew and/or cargo.
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