Four foreign nationals were charged on Thursday with transporting suspected Iranian-made weapons on a vessel intercepted by US naval forces in the Arabian Sea last month.
Two Navy Seals died during the mission.
US officials said Navy Special Warfare Operator 1st Class Christopher J. Chambers was boarding the boat on January 11 and slipped into the gap created by high waves between the vessel and the Seals’ combatant craft. As Chambers fell, Navy Special Warfare Operator 2nd Class Nathan Gage Ingram jumped in to try to save him, according to US officials familiar with what happened.
The criminal complaint unsealed on Thursday in US District Court in Richmond alleges that the four defendants were transporting suspected Iranian-made missile components for the type of weapons used by Houthi rebel forces in recent attacks.