U.S. special forces raided a vessel in November en route to Iran from China and seized cargo consisting of components for the Islamic Republic’s conventional weapons, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing U.S. officials.
American commandos boarded the ship in the Indian Ocean several hundred miles off the coast of Sri Lanka, according to the report. One of the officials said that the vessel was later permitted to proceed and that the shipment had been destroyed.
The raid was part of the U.S. Defense Department’s campaign to prevent Iran from rebuilding its military capabilities in the aftermath of its 12-day war with Israel in June.
According to the WSJ, the cargo comprised dual-use items, ones with potential applications in civilian and military fields, which could be used in Iran’s missile program.
One of the officials was cited as saying the U.S. intelligence possessed knowledge that the equipment was intended for Iranian firms known to be intermediaries for the country’s missile development efforts.
In a separate incident on Friday night, Iranian media claimed that Iran had seized an oil tanker that was allegedly illegally transporting Iranian fuel in the Gulf of Oman, with 18 crew members aboard, from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, according to Reuters.
Retail fuel prices in Iran are among the lowest in the world, making smuggling it to other countries particularly profitable, according to the report.
