A US special operations team raided a dual-use items ship in the Indian Ocean last month and seized military-related articles headed to Iran, US officials told The Wall Street Journal.
The newspaper said the ship’s cargo consists of components potentially useful for the Iranian conventional weapons.
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 Journal said citing US officials.
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.
It said 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 a US 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.
A US official told The New York Times that “the rare operation at sea aimed at blocking Tehran from rebuilding its military arsenal.”
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. Tehran’s move came amid suggestions it was a retaliatory measure against another country.
Iranian media said 18 crew members from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh were on board the oil tanker.
“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.
Mojtaba Ghahramani, head of the Judiciary in Hormozgan Province, said Iran has seized a foreign oil tanker in the Sea of Oman. He claimed the operation targeted fuel smuggling networks and their operators.
He confirmed to state television that the tanker was carrying 6 million liters of diesel in the Sea of Oman, and was intercepted in Iranian territorial waters near Jask.
Ghahramani added that the vessel was operating without valid maritime travel documents or a cargo manifest for its fuel shipment. All navigation and auxiliary systems aboard the ship had been deliberately turned off, he said.
The information has not yet been confirmed by independent sources. State broadcaster did not mention the name of the vessel or give its nationality on its website.
According to Ghahramani, the tanker carried a crew of 18, composed of nationals from India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh.
The latest interception came two days after the United States seized the 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 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.
Iran seized an oil tanker in Gulf waters last month “for carrying an unauthorized cargo.”
