U.S. special forces last month seized a ship in the Indian Ocean that was carrying military equipment from China to Iran, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
The operation, which took place several hundred kilometers off the coast of Sri Lanka, was part of a broader Pentagon effort to disrupt Iran’s attempts to rearm following Israeli and American strikes over the summer.
The ship, which had been under surveillance, was intercepted and boarded by a U.S. military unit. The cargo, reportedly bound for Iranian companies involved in missile development, was confiscated and later destroyed. Sources familiar with the mission told the Journal that the shipment included components for conventional weapons as well as dual-use items—materials that can serve both civilian and military purposes.
The operation comes amid heightened maritime tensions involving Iran, which has been linked to a series of recent naval incidents.
On Friday, Iranian media reported that authorities detained 18 crew members of a foreign oil tanker seized in the Gulf of Oman. The ship was allegedly transporting six million liters of oil smuggled out of Iran. The vessel’s nationality was not disclosed, but the crew reportedly includes nationals from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. Iranian officials accused the ship of multiple violations, including ignoring stop orders, attempting to flee and lacking documentation for its cargo.
Iran’s crackdown on fuel smuggling stems from domestic economic pressures. Heavily subsidized fuel prices and the depreciation of the national currency have made Iran a key source of cheap fuel for neighboring countries, prompting smuggling operations by land and sea.
Last month, Iranian forces also seized the Talara, a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker carrying 30,000 tons of petrochemicals from the United Arab Emirates to Singapore. Iranian authorities claimed the cargo was unauthorized. The ship and its 21-member crew were released four days later.