Khaberni - U.S. officials reported that last month, a team from the American special operations forces boarded a ship in the Indian Ocean and seized military-related materials that were en route from China to Iran, in a rare maritime interception aimed at preventing Tehran from rebuilding its military arsenal.
The officials explained that the ship was hundreds of miles off the coast of Sri Lanka when the team members boarded it and seized the shipment before allowing the ship to continue on its course. They added that the United States had been monitoring the shipment with intelligence, according to the officials and another person familiar with the operation who informed the American newspaper The Wall Street Journal.
This operation, which had not been previously disclosed, is part of the U.S. Department of Defense's efforts to disrupt the covert military supply networks of the Islamic Republic, following severe damage to its nuclear and missile facilities from Israeli and American strikes during a 12-day conflict in June.
This is the first time in recent years that the American military is known to have intercepted a shipment of Chinese origin heading to Iran. The name or owner of the ship has not yet been identified.
The operation occurred weeks before the United States, on Wednesday, seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, which was used to transport oil from Venezuela to Iran. These moves reflect the Trump administration's reliance on aggressive maritime tactics against its adversaries, tactics that the United States rarely used in the recent past.
The command of the American forces in the Indian and Pacific oceans, which carried out the operation, refused to comment. Spokespeople for Iran and the Chinese Foreign Ministry also did not respond to requests for comment.
One of the officials mentioned that the shipment included components that could be used in conventional Iranian weapons, noting that this shipment was destroyed. He added that the seized materials were dual-use, meaning they have both civilian and military applications.
A second official, along with someone familiar with the seizure, reported that the United States had gathered intelligence indicating that the shipment was headed to Iranian companies specializing in providing components for the Iranian missile program, and according to the first official, special forces alongside traditional forces participated in the operation.
Iranian officials say they are doubling their efforts to rebuild their ballistic missile arsenal, fearing a new confrontation with Israel. Meanwhile, negotiations with the United States regarding Iran's disputed nuclear program have not yet resumed after being halted by the war.
This rare seizure of military-related technologies headed to Iran comes at a time when the United Nations, in late September, reinstated an international arms embargo on Iran.
In recent years, the United States has seized several shipments of weapons and oil belonging to Iran. In January 2024, the American Central Command, responsible for military operations in the Middle East, seized components of ballistic missiles and Iranian-made cruise missiles headed to the Houthi militias in Yemen near the coast of Somalia.
The United States also seized Iranian oil shipments in 2020 and 2023, stating that they benefited the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, a semi-military apparatus in Tehran.
Chinese sales suspected of being directed to the Iranian missile program have come under increased scrutiny in the United States. Last month, two Democratic members of Congress, Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, and John Ratcliffe, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, were urged to investigate a large shipment of chemicals from China to Iran potentially used in rocket fuel.
Representatives Raja Krishnamoorthi (from Illinois) and Joe Courtney (from Connecticut) wrote in a letter dated November 13: "The latest shipments from Beijing of these vital chemicals indicate that U.S. actions so far have failed to deter it from supporting Tehran's efforts to acquire offensive military capabilities": They added: "It seems that Beijing has become bolder in assisting Tehran to rearm without accountability."
The Wall Street Journal had earlier reported this year that two Iranian ships sailed from China loaded with tons of sodium perchlorate, a key component in the production of solid fuel for ballistic missiles. In April, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on several Iranian and Chinese entities for facilitating the transfer of chemical materials to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard used in the production of ballistic missiles.
China has long been a diplomatic and economic ally to Iran, importing its crude oil and denouncing American sanctions on Tehran as illegal. It remains unclear whether the Chinese government was aware of the shipments headed to the Iranian missile program, which are often carried out by ships and companies under Iranian control.
Behnam Ben Taleblu, Director of the Iran Program at the Washington-based Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a research center advocating for increased sanctions on Iran, said: "By remaining a lax arena for exporting illicit technologies, China is a facilitating factor for the Iranian ballistic missile program."
Ben Taleblu added that Chinese companies typically provide dual-use technologies that enhance the precision of Iranian projectiles and said, "This is far more dangerous than the chemicals."
