US Navy Offers Cash for Tips to Seize Mideast Drugs, Weapons

US Navy Offers Cash for Tips to Seize Mideast Drugs, Weapons
A Navy Seahawk helicopter flies over a stateless dhow later found to be carrying a hidden arms shipment in the Arabian Sea on May 6, 2021. U.S. Navy via AP
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates—The U.S. Navy’s Mideast-based 5th Fleet is offering rewards for information that could help sailors intercept weapons, drugs, and other illicit shipments across the region amid tensions over Iran’s nuclear program and Tehran’s arming of Yemen’s Houthi rebels.

While avoiding directly mentioning Iran, the 5th Fleet’s decision to offer cash and other goods for actionable intelligence in the Persian Gulf and other strategic waterways may increase pressure on the flow of weapons to the Houthis as a shaky cease-fire still holds in Yemen.