A Pakistani national, Muhammad Pahlawan, was sentenced on October 16 to 40 years in federal prison for charges related to the transportation of Iranian-made advanced conventional weaponry intended for the Houthi rebel forces in Yemen.
Pahlawan’s sentencing by U.S. District Judge David J. Novak follows his conviction by a federal jury on June 5, 2025, on multiple counts, including conspiring to provide material support and resources to terrorists and to Iran’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program, providing material support to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) WMD program, and conspiring to and indeed transporting explosive devices to the Houthis, knowing they would be used to cause harm.
He was also convicted of threatening his crew.
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The case stems from a dangerous interdiction in the Arabian Sea on the night of January 11, 2024, where U.S. Central Command Navy forces operating from the USS LEWIS B. PULLER, including Navy SEALs and U.S. Coast Guard personnel, boarded an unflagged dhow (small vessel) off the coast of Somalia.
During a search of the vessel, the boarding team located and seized sophisticated Iranian-made advanced conventional weaponry, including ballistic missile components, anti-ship cruise missile components, and a warhead. This weaponry is consistent with that used by Houthi forces in a series of attacks against merchant ships and U.S. military vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden following the October 7 Hamas attack in Israel.
Tragically, two Navy SEALs—Christopher Chambers and Nathan Gage Ingram—lost their lives during the interdiction.
Court records and trial evidence revealed that Pahlawan’s January 2024 voyage was part of a larger operation. From approximately August 2023 through January 2024, Pahlawan worked with two Iranian brothers, Shahab Mir’kazei and Yunus Mir’kazei, both affiliated with Iran’s IRGC, to smuggle materials from Iran to recipients including the Houthi rebels.
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Pahlawan completed multiple funded and coordinated smuggling voyages, traveling with cargo from Iran to the coast of Somalia for nighttime ship-to-ship transfers. During the fatal interdiction, Pahlawan lied to the U.S. boarding team, instructed other crewmembers to lie, and threatened the lives of the crew and their families.
The sentencing announcement was made by Assistant Attorney General for National Security, John Eisenberg; U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan for the Eastern District of Virginia; Assistant Director Donald M. Holstead of the FBI’s Counterterrorism Division; and Assistant Director in Charge Darren B. Cox of the FBI Washington Field Office.
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