U.S. Forces Raid Ship, Seize Cargo Headed to Iran From China
Summarize
Operation highlights the Trump administration’s use of aggressive tactics against adversaries at sea that were rarely used in the past
Dec. 12, 2025 at 4:43 pm
Iranian flag over Tehran blanketed in heavy smog pollution.
The ship was several hundred miles off the coast of Sri Lanka when the operatives boarded it and confiscated the cargo before letting the vessel proceed, the officials said. The U.S. had been tracking the shipment, according to the officials and another person familiar with the operation.
The previously undisclosed raid was part of a Pentagon effort to disrupt the Islamic Republic’s clandestine military procurement after Israel and the U.S. inflicted heavy damage on its nuclear and missile facilities during a 12-day conflict in June.
It was the first time in recent years that the U.S. military is known to have intercepted cargo with Chinese origins on its way to Iran. The name of the ship and its owner couldn’t be determined.
The operation occurred weeks before the U.S. seized a sanctioned oil tanker on Wednesday off the coast of Venezuela that had been used to transport oil from Venezuela to Iran. It underscored the Trump administration’s use of aggressive maritime tactics against adversaries that the U.S. has rarely used in the recent past.
U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, which carried out the operation, declined to comment. Spokespeople for Iran and China’s foreign ministry didn’t return requests for comment.
The cargo consisted of components potentially useful for Iran’s conventional weapons, one official said, adding that the shipment was destroyed. The seized components were dual-use items, with both civilian and military applications, the official said.
The U.S. had gathered intelligence suggesting the cargo was going to Iranian companies that specialize in procuring components for its missile program, said the second official and the person familiar with the seizure.
The operation included special operations forces as well as conventional forces, according to the first U.S. official.
Iranian officials say they are redoubling efforts to rebuild the country’s ballistic missile arsenal, fearing a new confrontation with Israel. Negotiations with the U.S. over Iran’s disputed nuclear program have yet to resume after they were interrupted by the war.
Three Iranian missiles on display at the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force Museum in Tehran.
Iranian missiles on display at the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Aerospace Force Museum in Tehran in November. Majid Asgaripour/Wana News Agency/Reuters
The rare confiscation of military-related technologies bound for Iran comes as the United Nations reimposed an international ban on Iran arms trades late September.
In recent years, the U.S. has seized several cargoes of weapons and oil belonging to Iran. Back in January 2024, the U.S. Central Command, which oversees American operations in the Middle East, confiscated Iranian-made ballistic missile and cruise missiles components headed to Yemen’s Houthis militants near the coast of Somalia.
The U.S. also seized Iranian oil shipments in 2020 and 2023, saying they were benefiting the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Tehran’s paramilitary organization.
Chinese sales of products suspected of going to Iran’s missile program have come under increased scrutiny in the U.S. Last month, two Democratic congressmen urged U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Central Intelligence Agency Director John Ratcliffe to investigate a large shipment of chemicals from China to Iran potentially useful in missile propellants.
“Beijing’s latest shipments of these critical chemical precursors indicate that U.S. actions to date have failed to deter it from supporting Tehran’s procurement of offensive military capabilities,” Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D., Ill.) and Joe Courtney (D., Conn.) wrote in a Nov. 13 letter. “Beijing seems increasingly emboldened to assist Tehran’s rearmament efforts with impunity.”
Two Iranian ships have been sailing from China with tons of sodium perchlorate, a main ingredient for producing solid propellant for ballistic missiles, The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year. In April, the U.S. Treasury sanctioned several Iranian and Chinese entities for facilitating transfers of chemical precursors to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps useful for ballistic missile production.
China has long been a diplomatic and economic ally for Iran, importing its crude oil and decrying U.S. sanctions on Tehran as illegal. It isn’t clear if the Chinese government is aware of shipments to Iran’s missile program, which are often carried out by Iranian-controlled vessels and companies.
“By remaining a permissive jurisdiction for the export of illicit technologies, China is an enabler for Iran’s ballistic missiles program,” said Behnam Ben Taleblu, an Iran director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a Washington think tank advocating tighter sanctions on Iran.
Companies in China typically provide dual-use technologies that improve the precision of Iran’s projectiles, such as spectrometers, gyroscopes and other measurement devices, said Ben Taleblu. “That is much more dangerous than chemical precursors,” he said.
Write to Benoit Faucon at
benoit.faucon@wsj.com and Lara Seligman at
apple.news
