On Tuesday, officials in Yemen confirmed that the Jihane eight-member crew appeared before a court, in relation to their involvement in smuggling weapons to the country.
All eight crew members of the Jihane, an Iranian ship which was intercepted off the coast of Yemen back in January 2013, after the Yemeni authorities were tipped off it was carrying illegal weapons, will have to answer a series of questions as to their motives, knowledge of the shipment and overall implication.
They are all facing charges for "targeting Yemen's territorial integrity and wellbeing.
Officials noted that a ninth crew member will be tried in absentia.
On January 28th, Sana'a confirmed in an official statement the seizure of the ship, saying it had found in the cargo hull surface to air missiles, C4 military-grade explosives, 122-millimeter shells, rocket-propelled grenades and bomb-making equipment, including electronic circuits, remote triggers and other hand-held explosives.

It was soon established the surface-to-air missiles were Iranian-made Misagh-2, as for most of the weapons found on board of the ship.

While high ranking officials such as Foreign Minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi and Yemen National Agency Chief, Ali Hassan al-Ahmadi affirmed Iran was to blame, calling on the UN Security Council to begin an inquiry ahead of possible sanctions, other intelligence sources insisted the shipment of weapons had been meant for the Free Syrian Army and not Yemen.
Iran always denied the allegations, accusing the United States of American of running a witch hunt against Tehran in the region as to ensure Saudi Arabia would remain the main powerhouse in the Arabian Peninsula.
Ahmed Sohani an Iranian MP said back in January "Over the past few years, the U.S. has tried to create Iranophobia among regional countries by leveling accusations at Iran. The US and the West are trying to influence regional public opinion by creating a negative anti-Iranian climate through using the media under their control and justify their meddlesome presence in the region by exploiting this hazy atmosphere."
His comment came in reaction to U.S Ambassador to Yemen Gerald Feierstein's declaration Iran was to trying to destabilize the region by providing weapons to Yemen militias.
Both Iranian Ambassador to Sana'a Mahmoud Hassanzadeh and Iran Foreign Ministry' spokesman, Ramin Mehman-Parast called Ambassador Feierstein's accusations "baseless and fallacious."
After a thorough investigation into Aden local authorities established that the defendants knowingly falsified official travel documents in order to reach Iran where they loaded the jihane with "extremely dangerous explosives, ammunition, and other tools and equipment and placed them in carefully-concealed places on board of ship".
All accused are believed to have underwent military training in Iran.