• Iran accused of sending missiles, explosives to insurgents in Yemen

    Yemeni Defense Ministry via EPA

    Yemeni Interior Minister Abdul-Qater Qahtan (left) and senior security officials inspect seized Iranian-made weapons. Ties between Tehran and Sanaa were already strained over charges that Iran was working with separatists in the south and rebels in the north to further destabilize Yemen.

    By Mohammed Ghobari, Reuters

    SANAA -- Yemen's president has asked his Iranian counterpart to stop backing armed groups on its soil after coastguards seized a consignment of missiles and rockets believed sent by the Islamic Republic, a government official said Thursday.

    Iran has denied any connection to the weapons, found aboard a vessel off the coast on January 23 in an operation coordinated with the U.S. Navy.

    But government official Abdel-Rashid Abdel Hafez said President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi had contacted Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to demand Tehran stop smuggling in weapons. Hafez gave no further details of the message.

    "This is the most dangerous arms shipment being smuggled to Yemen," Yemeni Deputy Interior Minister Abdel-Rahman Hanash told Reuters. "It contained anti-aircraft missiles, C4 high explosives materials which only a few countries in the Middle East possess."

    Yemen, a majority Sunni Muslim country, said last week the vessel had been loaded in Iran.

    Yemen has complained to the U.N. Security Council and asked for the weapons shipment to be investigated by the council's group of experts that monitors compliance with the Iran sanctions regime. It includes a ban on arms exports, U.N. special envoy to Yemen, Jamal Benomar, said Thursday.

    'Sophisticated weapons'
    The council has imposed four rounds of sanctions on Iran for refusing to halt its nuclear enrichment program, which the United States, European Union and their allies suspect is at the heart of a weapons program. Iran rejects the allegation, saying the nuclear materials are wanted for peaceful purposes.

    "The shipment contains weapons and some of the weapons are sophisticated weapons, surface-to-air missiles, for example. The government made a request to the sanctions committee for a full investigation," Benomar told reporters.

    Yemeni Defense Ministry via EPA

    The haul of Iranian-made weapons is thought to have been headed for rebels in Yemen.

    "They (the sanctions committee) will establish the facts on what happened, where the shipment came from, who were the recipients, et cetera," he said.

    The 15-member council is also discussing whether to issue a U.S.-drafted statement on the weapons shipment.

    Officials in Washington have said the shipment was believed to have been from Shiite Muslim Iran and destined for insurgents, likely to be Shiite Houthis mainly based in northern Yemen.

    Yemeni state television on Wednesday showed Interior Minister Abdul Qader Qahtan and National Security Board head Ali al-Ahmadi inspecting the weapons including Katyusha rockets, anti-aircraft Strella 1 and 2 missiles, RPG launchers, explosive materials and Iranian-made night-vision goggles.

    Hanash said that while the investigation into the shipment was still under way, it was certain that the weapons were destined for an insurgent group. He did not name the group.

    A source at Hadi's office said the arms were destined for Houthi rebels.

    Rebels who once ruled
    The discovery of the shipment will likely further sour ties between Tehran and Sanaa, already strained over charges that Iran was working with separatists in the south and Houthi rebels in the north to further destabilize Yemen as it tries to rebuild after two years of political upheaval.

    Yemen said in July it had rounded up a spy ring led by a former commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard, according to the state news agency Saba.

    Iran has denied interfering in Yemen, a U.S. ally in its fight against al-Qaida militants.

    The Houthi movement, named after the tribe of its leader, says it represents the claims of Zaydi Shiite Muslims who ruled Yemen for more than 1,000 years.

    Houthis have survived repeated government attempts to crush them. They fought a brief war with Saudi Arabia in 2009 after their conflict with Yemeni forces spilled across the border.

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  • US Navy ship stuck on reef nearly a day after running aground off Philippines

    Steve White / U.S. Navy photo

    The USS Guardian arrives at White Beach Naval Facility in Japan earlier this month.

    By Ian Johnston, Staff Writer, NBC News

    A U.S. Navy ship with a wood-and-fiberglass hull that ran aground on a reef off the Philippines was still stuck nearly 22 hours later, Navy officials said Thursday.

    The USS Guardian, an Avenger-class minesweeper, hit the Tubbataha Reef in the Sula Sea at 2:25 a.m. local time Thursday (1:25 p.m. Wednesday ET), the Navy said in a statement.

    The statement said no one was hurt as a result of the collision, about 80 miles east-southeast of Palawan Island.

    “The crew is currently working to determine the best method of safely extracting the ship,” the statement said. “The cause of the grounding is under investigation.”

    Guardian, which is deployed to Sasebo, Japan, was commissioned Dec. 16, 1989, and has a crew of about 80, it added.

    A U.S. Navy spokeswoman said at about 11:20 a.m. that the ship was still stuck on the reef.

    According to a U.S. Navy factfile, the Guardian has a “fiberglass sheathed, wooden hull.”

    “These ships use sonar and video systems, cable cutters and a mine detonating device that can be released and detonated by remote control. They are also capable of conventional sweeping measures,” the factfile says.

    Related:

    US nuclear attack submarine hits fishing vessel

  • US sailors sue Japan's TEPCO for post-quake radiation exposure

    Nicholas A. Groesch / Reuters file

    Sailors aboard the aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan wash down the flight deck to remove potential radiation contamination while operating off the coast of Japan providing humanitarian assistance in support of Operation Tomodachi on March 22, 2011.

    By Kari Huus, NBC News

    A group of U.S. Navy personnel involved in the humanitarian effort after Japan's March 2011 earthquake and tsunami have filed a lawsuit against the Tokyo Electric Power Co. for more than $200 million in compensation, punitive damages and future medical costs for exposure to radiation that leaked from the damaged Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant at the time.

    The plaintiffs include eight troops serving on the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier — one of whom was pregnant at the time of the alleged exposure — and her daughter.

    They charge that the utility, known as TEPCO, "knowingly and negligently caused, permitted and allowed misleading information concerning the true condition of the (plant) to be disseminated to the public, including the U.S. Navy Department," according to the complaint filed on Dec. 21 in a U.S. federal court in San Diego.


     The plaintiffs are suffering a variety of symptoms that attorney Paul Garner says were caused by the exposure, including rectal bleeding, thyroid problems and persistent migraine headaches, and all face an increased chance of developing cancer and requiring expensive medical procedures.

    The U.S. carrier was positioned just offshore from the damaged Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, which and suffered a meltdown which triggered the release of high levels of radiation into the air and water.

    "The carrier was less than two football fields away from the Fukushima Daiichi when it released a cloud of radiation," said Garner, speaking to NBC News on Thursday.

    He said the crew was unknowingly exposed to high levels of radiation in numerous ways, including when they cleared the carrier's decks of snow that was contaminated, and washed down the helicopters with sea water that was contaminated.

    Archival video: Of all the aftershocks that could hit Japan, nothing frightens the world more than the possibility of a devastating nuclear disaster. NBC's Anne Thompson.

    The complaint said that by relying on misrepresentations about the situation by TEPCO, the U.S. Navy was "lulled into a false sense of security," believing it was "safe to operate with the waters adjacent to the FNPP, without doing research and testing that would have revealed the problems."

    It goes on to charge that through its conduct, TEPCO "rendered the Plaintiffs infirm and poisoned their bodies. The Plaintiffs must now endure a lifetime of radiation poisoning and suffering which could have and should have been avoided."

    Archival video: Damon Moglen of Friends of the Earth discusses the potential dangers that still loom in Japan following an explosion at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear facility.

    The suit is seeking $10 million in damages for each plaintiff, plus $30 million in punitive damages and a judgment requiring TEPCO to create $100 million fund to pay for their medical costs, including monitoring and treatments.

    TEPCO could not immediately be reached for comment by NBC News.

    A TEPCO spokesman reached by The Japan Times said the company had not yet received the complaint.

    "We will consider a response after examining the claim," said Yusuke Kunikage, according to the Times.

    Since the disaster, TEPCO has operated a fund to compensate victims in Japan.

    Garner said that he didn't believe his clients would get justice through the Japanese system, which is why the suit was filed in a U.S. court. The complaint was served to TEPCO's office in Washington, D.C. on Thursday, he said.

    "We need the U.S. justice system to make this right," Garner said.

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  • US vessel fires on boat in Gulf, killing one and injuring three

    Jacob D. Moore / Navy Visual News Service via EPA

    The USNS Rappahannock opened fire on a small boat, possibly a pleasure craft, about 10 miles offshore from Dubai in the Persian Gulf, U.S. officials told NBC News.

    By Jim Miklaszewski, NBC News chief Pentagon correspondent

    WASHINGTON – U.S. officials tell NBC News that at least one person was killed and three others injured when a U.S. Navy ship, the USNS Rappahannock, opened fire on a small boat about 10 miles offshore from Dubai in the Persian Gulf on Monday.

    The U.S. officials say the boat, possibly a pleasure craft, ignored warnings and was closing in on the U.S. Navy supply ship in an "aggressive and threatening manner."

    The crew aboard the Navy ship sent out repeated warnings, including radio calls, flashing lights, lasers and ultimately warning shots from a 50-caliber machine gun.  When the boat failed to heed the warnings, the crew was ordered to open fire with the 50-caliber gun.

    The small vessel disregarded warnings as it approached the U.S. ship near Jebel Ali, United Arab Emirates. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

    According to a press release from the Navy, “in accordance with Navy force protection procedures, the sailors on the USNS Rappahannock (T-AO 204) used a series of non-lethal, preplanned responses to warn the vessel before resorting to lethal force.”

    U.S. officials say as of now it's unclear whether the dead and injured are from the United Arab Emirates or India, but they stress there is no indication that Iran or Iranians were in anyway involved in Monday's incident.

    A U.S. Navy investigation is under way.

    Iran: We can destroy US bases 'minutes after attack' 

    Rising tensions
    The Pentagon also announced Monday that it is sending the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis to the Persian Gulf region – four months earlier than previously scheduled. The Stennis strike group, which also includes the Aegis guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay and some 5,500 sailors, will also be on an eight month deployment – twice as long as the group was originally scheduled to be deployed. 

    This major shift in the Stennis deployment is a response to the steadily rising tensions over Iran's nuclear program, Iran's threat to shut down the Strait of Hormuz over tighter international sanctions, and the possibility that Israel may launch preemptive airstrikes against Iran's nuclear facility.

    Full international coverage from NBCNews.com

    A potential showdown is looming over Iran's nuclear program after word that Tehran's new bargaining position could split Israel and the United States. The Washington Post's David Ignatius reports.

    The shift and extension of the Stennis deployment will allow CENTCOM to keep two aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf region, Gulf of Oman and North Arabian Sea, not only as a hedge against Iran, but to support combat air operations over Afghanistan.

    The aircraft Carrier USS Lincoln left the Persian Gulf area Monday.

    Aircraft carrier USS Stennis going to Persian Gulf early, staying longer

    The carriers Enterprise and Eisenhower will remain in the region until the Stennis relieves the Enterprise about five months from now.   

     Please check back in on this developing story. 

     NBC News' Jim Miklaszewski and Courtney Kube at the Pentagon, and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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