UK: Royal Navy seizes Iranian versions of 9M133 Kornet anti-tank guided missiles.

According to information published by the UK MoD on March 2, 2023, the Royal Navy seized anti-tank weapons and ballistic missile components being smuggled in international waters in the Gulf of Oman after a high-speed chase in the Gulf.
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Iranian version of 9M133 Kornet anti-tank guided missiles seized by the Royal Navy. (Picture source: UK MoD)

Royal Marines of 42 Commando from HMS Lancaster pounced on a speed boat after scrambling its Wildcat helicopter to track the vessel darting through international waters.

The smugglers tried to evade the ever-present 815 Naval Air Squadron helicopter and ignored every radio call demanding them to stop – instead steering their craft towards Iranian territorial waters.

They were intercepted by the British frigate before they could do so. The Royal Marines boarding team who searched the suspect craft found a number of packages.

Royal Navy bomb disposal and ordnance specialists checked the weapons to ensure they were safe to bring them back onboard Lancaster for inspection.

The haul included Iranian versions of Russian 9M133 Kornet anti-tank guided missiles – known in Iran as ‘Dehlavieh’ – and medium-range ballistic missile components.

The chase was sparked when an American drone spotted the skiff moving at speed through international waters in the darkness.

It’s the third weapons cache seized by the Royal Navy in the region inside 13 months. Early in 2022, HMS Lancaster’s predecessor operating in the same waters, sister frigate HMS Montrose, struck twice inside a month, interdicting multiple rocket engines for land-attack cruise missile and a batch of surface-to-air missiles.