On December 12th, The Wall Street Journal exclusively reported that last month, a US special operations team boarded a ship in the Indian Ocean and discovered a batch of military-related items being transported from China to Iran. This rare maritime intercept operation was aimed at preventing Iran from rebuilding its arsenal.
This action highlighted the Trump administration’s use of a more assertive strategy against hostile forces at sea. According to officials, the ship was located hundreds of miles off the coast of Sri Lanka, and after the US military boarded it, the goods were confiscated and the ship was allowed to continue. The US has been tracking these goods, as disclosed by officials and another source.
This undisclosed raid was one of the Pentagon’s efforts to prevent Iran from secretly acquiring military supplies. It is also the first time in recent years that the US military intercepted Chinese goods bound for Iran. The specifics of the ship’s name and ownership remain unknown.
In June of this year, conflict erupted between Israel and Iran, prompting the Trump administration to send B-2 bombers to strike Iranian nuclear and missile facilities, severely damaging them.
The US Indo-Pacific Command, responsible for this operation, declined to comment to The Wall Street Journal. Spokespersons for Iran and the CCP also did not respond to requests for comment.
An official told The Wall Street Journal that the confiscated goods included components that could potentially be used for Iran’s conventional weapons, which have since been destroyed. The official also mentioned that the seized components were dual-use items.
Another official stated that prior intelligence indicated these goods were intended for an Iranian company specializing in purchasing components for Iran’s missile projects. This individual is also a source of information.
The first US official revealed that this operation involved both special forces and conventional forces.
On Wednesday, President Trump announced, “We just seized a big oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela – a very big one, in fact, the largest one we’ve seized so far.”
Attorney General Pam Bondi later released a video of the seizure operation, stating that the ship was “a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.”
A senior military officer informed CBS that helicopters used in the operation took off from the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, which was deployed to the Caribbean region last month.
CBS reported that the operation involved two helicopters, 10 Coast Guard members, 10 Navy Marines, and special forces. The boarding team was composed of the US Coast Guard Maritime Security and Response Team, an elite maritime interception unit stationed in Chesapeake, Virginia.