US intercepted Chinese arms shipment to Iran – report

A US special forces team reportedly seized shipment of Chinese military equipment bound for Iran off the coast of Sri Lanka. 

By World Israel News Staff

The United States seized a shipment of Chinese military equipment destined for Iran recently, according to a report published Friday by The Wall Street Journal.

The report cited several US officials who said that an American special operations unit boarded a vessel last month several hundred miles off the coast of Sri Lanka.

The officials said the American forces confiscated cargo, then allowed the ship to continue on its voyage.

The seized cargo included Chinese military equipment being shipped to Iran, the report said, including components potentially useful for Iran’s conventional weapons.

The shipment included dual-use items, one official said, with both military and civilian applications. The seized items were later destroyed.

The US had been tracking the shipment prior to the interdiction, the officials claimed, with military intelligence suggesting the items included in the shipment were to be used for Iran’s missile program, a second US official said.

The raid was described as being part of a larger effort by the Pentagon to prevent Iran from rebuilding its offensive capabilities following the 12-day war with Israel this past June.

Both special forces and conventional forces took part in the interdiction operation.

The incident marks the first time in years that the US military has intervened to block the transfer of Chinese military equipment to Iran and came weeks before the US seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.

The operation comes amid growing scrutiny of Chinese ties to Iran’s military.

Last month, two Democratic lawmakers called on the Trump administration to probe the sale of chemicals by China to Iran that could be used to make missile propellant.

“Beijing’s latest shipments of these critical chemical precursors indicate that US actions to date have failed to deter it from supporting Tehran’s procurement of offensive military capabilities,” Congressmen Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.) and Joe Courtney (D-Conn.) wrote.

“Beijing seems increasingly emboldened to assist Tehran’s rearmament efforts with impunity.”