US commandos raided ship headed to Iran from China with military-related items — report

Intel showed components could be destined for missile program, Wall Street Journal says; Iran reports seizing tanker transporting ‘contraband’ oil in Gulf of Oman

A US special operations team in the Indian Ocean raided a ship headed to Iran from China last month and seized military-related articles, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing US officials.

The cargo consisted of components potentially useful for Iran’s conventional weapons, one official said, adding the shipment had been destroyed.

US forces boarded the ship several hundred miles off the coast of Sri Lanka, according to the newspaper, which added the vessel was later allowed to proceed.

According to the report, the shipment consisted of dual-use items — ones with potential applications in civilian and military fields — that could be used in Iran’s missile program. The report cited an American official as saying US intelligence indicated the shipment was headed for Iranian companies known to be intermediaries for the country’s missile development efforts.

The action was part of a campaign by the US Defense Department to cut off Iran’s covert arms supply networks.

In a separate incident, Iran seized an oil tanker it claimed was illegally transporting Iranian fuel in the Gulf of Oman, Iranian media said overnight Friday to Saturday, adding that 18 crew members from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were on board.

“An oil tanker carrying six million liters of contraband diesel fuel has been boarded off the coast of the Sea of Oman,” the Fars news agency said, quoting an official from the southern province of Hormozgan.

“The vessel had disabled all its navigation systems.”

Iranian forces regularly announce the interception of ships it says are illegally transporting fuel in the Gulf.

Retail fuel prices in Iran are among the lowest in the world, making smuggling it to other countries particularly profitable.

Iran seized an oil tanker in Gulf waters last month “for carrying an unauthorized cargo,” dismissing suggestions it was a retaliatory measure against another country.

The latest interception came two days after the United States seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.

According to Washington, the ship’s captain was transporting oil from Venezuela and Iran. The US Treasury sanctioned Venezuela in 2022 for alleged ties to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Hezbollah.

“The seizure of this vessel highlights our successful efforts to impose costs on the governments of Venezuela and Iran,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement on Friday.

Sources told Reuters that the US is preparing to intercept more ships transporting Venezuelan oil.