WASHINGTON, DC – A federal court has handed a 40-year prison sentence to Pakistani national Muhammad Pahlawan following his June 5, 2025 conviction for conspiring to provide material support to terrorists and Iran’s weapons-of-mass-destruction program, transporting explosive devices to the Yemen-based Houthi rebels and facilitating Iranian-made ballistic missile components.
Court records show that on Jan. 11, 2024, U.S. Navy forces operating from the USS Lewis B. Puller boarded an unflagged dhow in the Arabian Sea off Somalia, seized Iranian-made advanced conventional weapons such as missile warheads and components, confronted a 14-member crew including Pahlawan, and ultimately lost two Navy SEALs, Christopher J. Chambers and Nathan Gage Ingram, during the operation.
This case offers a stark illustration of how state-sponsored terrorist networks (in this instance via the Iranian-linked Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its proxies) are not only operating overseas but also channeling lethal arms that threaten U.S. and allied interests. Although the U.S. has undertaken bombing operations and interdictions of Iranian nuclear or missile sites—and while such military action is vital—it does not eliminate the broader terrorist network threat.
The conviction confirms that bad actors affiliated with Iran are already operating in, or through, U.S. legal territory and must be rooted out. Credit is due to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and its partners for preventing a further maritime arms shipment and protecting U.S. communities and global shipping lanes.
