• The dealers offer high-powered rifles, grenade launchers, and other weapons on X and point to WhatsApp to connect with sellers.
• Some of the weapons are stamped “Property of U.S. Govt,” suggesting they are of American origin and were once used by the U.S. military.
• X, owned by Elon Musk, and WhatsApp, a unit of Meta, have policies against this kind of activity but have taken no apparent action to stop it.
• The Iran-backed Houthis are a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization subject to multiple U.S. sanctions.