American special forces raided a cargo ship travelling from China to Iran in Indian Ocean last month and seized military-related articles, according to the Wall Street Journal, in the latest reported instance of increasingly aggressive maritime tactics by the administration of US President Donald Trump.
The cargo consisted of components potentially useful for Iran’s conventional weapons, and the shipment had been destroyed.
Unnamed officials told the newspaper that US military personnel boarded the ship several hundred miles from Sri Lanka, according to the report on Friday. It was the first time in several years US forces had intercepted cargo travelling from China to Iran, according to the newspaper.
The operation took place in November, weeks before US forces seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela earlier this week, citing sanctions violations. It was another action Washington has not taken in years.
US Indo-Pacific Command did not immediately confirm the report. An official told the newspaper that they seized material “potentially useful for Iran’s conventional weapons”. However, the official noted the seized items were dual-use, and could have both military and civilian applications.
Officials said the ship was allowed to proceed following the interdiction, which involved special operation forces.
Iran remains under heavy US sanctiouns. Neither Iran nor China immediately responded to the report, although Beijing, a key trading partner with Tehran, has regularly called the US sanctions illegal.
Earlier, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun condemned the seizure of the oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, which was brought to a port in Texas on Friday.
The action came amid a wider military pressure campaign against Venezuela, which Caracas has charged is aimed at toppling the government of leader Nicolas Maduro.
Beijing “opposes unilateral illicit sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction that have no basis in international law or authorisation of the UN Security Council, and the abuse of sanctions”, Guo said.
White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday the Trump administration would not rule out future seizures of vessels near Venezuela.
Meanwhile, Iran has seized an oil tanker 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 litres 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 unauthorised 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.–Agencies