US Commandos Raided Cargo Ship Travelling From China To Iran, Seized 'Dual Use' Tech
US special forces raided a cargo ship travelling from China to Iran in November that was allegedly transporting "dual-use military technology," according to a report published by the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on Friday.
Citing unnamed US officials, the WSJ revealed that a special operations team boarded the ship several hundred miles from Sri Lanka and seized the cargo, which was described as “dual-use components that could be used either for civilian applications or to make conventional weapons."
The ship's name, its owner, and the flag under which it was sailing have not been disclosed. Neither Iran nor China immediately responded to the report. A spokesperson for the US Indo-Pacific Command, responsible for regional military activities, declined to comment.
Nevertheless, an official told the WSJ that Washington seized material "potentially useful for Iran’s conventional weapons," but highlighted that the cargo could have "both military and civilian applications."
The WSJ reported that the high-sea raid was part of a Pentagon effort to "disrupt Iran’s clandestine military procurement" following the 12-Day War in June, during which the US and Israel teamed up to bomb Iranian nuclear sites and kill dozens of military commanders, nuclear scientists, and their families.
The reported seizure took place weeks before US troops seized a Venezuelan oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea and stole its cargo in a move Caracas condemned as "theft and piracy." It also came as the UN reimposed an international ban on Iran’s arms trade in late September.
Overnight on Saturday, Iranian authorities reported seizing a foreign-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman and detaining its crew for allegedly smuggling six million liters of fuel. The vessel was intercepted in waters off the southern province of Hormozgan.
Mojtaba Ghahremani, the chief justice of Hormozgan province, said the seizure was part of ongoing intelligence efforts to monitor suspected fuel-smuggling activities in the Sea of Oman.
There's a clause in the UN sanctions that returned via snapback that covers interdiction of vessels carrying weaponry or dual-use goods for Iran's missile or nuclear programs.
— Gregory Brew (@gbrew24) December 13, 2025
If China and Iran continue this trade, more seizures are likely to follow. https://t.co/7vJRsu7W8s
On Wednesday, Iran seized an Eswatini-flagged vessel carrying 0.35 million liters of smuggled diesel. In mid-November, IRGC also seized a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker outside Iran’s waters in the Persian Gulf for carrying unauthorized cargo.