Dubai (AFP) - The US Navy announced on Tuesday the seizure of more than 2,000 assault rifles that were smuggled aboard a fishing boat in a sea lane between Iran and Yemen .

The boat was intercepted Friday off the coast of Oman "in a corridor often used to smuggle prohibited shipments to the Houthis in Yemen," according to a statement from the Bahrain-based US Fifth Fleet. The statement added that the boat "was operated by a crew of six Yemenis."

"This shipment is part of an ongoing pattern of destabilizing Iranian behavior," Vice Admiral Brad Cooper was quoted as saying.

The Iranian-backed Houthis took control of the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, in 2014, and the following year a Saudi-led military coalition intervened to confront them. A devastating war followed, killing hundreds of thousands of people and pushing this poor country to the brink of famine.

A UN-brokered ceasefire that began in April has contributed to a sharp reduction in hostilities. The truce expired in October, but the ceasefire is still largely holding.

The fishing boat intercepted last week was carrying 2,116 AK-47 (Kalashnikov) machine guns.

The Fifth Fleet said that procedures to "transfer the boat and its crew for deportation are underway," adding that "the direct or indirect supply, sale or transfer of weapons to the Houthis violates" international law.

The UN Security Council imposed an arms embargo on the Houthis in February 2022.

Last month, the US Navy announced the seizure of one million rounds of ammunition, fuses and missile fuel that were being smuggled from Iran to Yemen.

In November, the US Navy said it had intercepted a boat carrying "a huge amount of explosive material, sufficient to fuel more than a dozen medium-range ballistic missiles."