On October 16th, 2025, a federal judge in Virginia sentenced Pakistani boat captain Muhammad Pahlawan to 40 years in prison for running Iranian weapons toward Yemen’s Houthi fighters , a scheme that turned deadly when two U.S. Navy SEALs were lost at sea during the boarding of his unflagged dhow in January 2024. Court records show the terms include 20 years for providing material support to a weapons-of-mass-destruction program and additional concurrent terms on related counts, for a total of four decades behind bars.

What Happened That Night

On January 11 , 2024, U.S. Central Command forces operating from USS Lewis B. Puller executed a nighttime flag-verification and boarding in the Arabian Sea, off Somalia . As the team closed on the dhow in six-to-eight-foot seas

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