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By Brendan Cole
Senior Reporter
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Chinese links to the Iranian-flagged tanker seized by the U.S. show how Beijing is helping Tehran, former U.S. ambassador Nikki Haley has said, amid speculation that the vessel’s cargo contained materials that can be used for missiles.
Haley, former U.S. envoy to the United Nations, said that the Touska, which was captured on Sunday near the Iranian port of Chabahar, was "headed from China to Iran and is linked to chemical shipments for missiles."
The post on X by the 2024 Republican primary candidate added this was "another reminder that China is helping prop up Iran’s regime."
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When asked whether the Touska was carrying rocket fuel precursors from China, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Tuesday: "As far as I know, it is a foreign-flagged container ship."
"China opposes any malicious association and hyping up the issue," he added.
There's no confirmed evidence China has provided military support to Iran in the war launched by the U.S. and Israel. President Donald Trump has said Beijing committed not to supply Tehran with weapons after reports it was looking to sell it shoulder-fired air defense systems.
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However, Haley's comments follow initial assessments from security sources that the vessel U.S. Marines boarded Sunday in the Gulf of Oman was likely to be carrying dual-use items after a voyage from Asia.
Sources cited by Reuters did not specify further but U.S. Central Command has listed metals, pipes and electronic components as among goods that could have a military as well as an industrial use.
Touska Visited Chinese Ports
Haley’s claims also come amid questions about the visits to Chinese ports by the container ship which is part of the state-owned Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) group.
In 2019, the U.S. imposed sanctions on IRISL, whose ships are under the control of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), for transporting items for Iran’s ballistic missile program.
It was seized on Sunday for breaking a naval blockade of Iranian ports announced by Trump, pending a deal between the U.S. and Iran over Tehran unblocking the Strait of Hormuz.
Ship tracking data analyzed by Newsweek found that the vessel had left Iranian waters on February 22 via the port of Shahid Rajaee. It transited the Strait of Malacca in early March before calling at Zhuhai port in southern China on March 9.
The Washington Post had previously reported that Zhuhai port was a location where Iran secures precursors for rocket fuel used in its ballistic missiles.
Satellite imagery showed the vessel at China’s Taicang port, north of Shanghai, on March 25 and arriving at China's southern Gaolan port on March 29-30.
The vessel loaded containers in Gaolan then stopped around the Port Klang anchorage in Malaysia on April 11-12, according to SynMax analysis cited by Reuters.
China is a key trading partner for Iran and although it has insisted it has played no role in the war started by Trump, a report this month by the Jamestown Institute said that Iran’s drone campaign in March was powered by thousands of Chinese-made components.
Some of these were routed through shell companies selling e-cigarettes, others as refrigeration units to avoid detection, according to the think tank.
"Western enforcement tools built for big defense contractors are powerless against an ecosystem of small enterprises that can dissolve within weeks of being sanctioned and reconstituted under a new legal entity," the think tank said on X on Monday.
Legal Questions Over Ship's Capture
There are also questions over the legal status of the U.S. seizure of the vessel, according to Mark Chadwick, principal lecturer at Nottingham Law School in England. Chadwick told Newsweek that in peacetime, there would be no right for U.S. naval vessels to seize vessels flagged to another country, but a situation of armed conflict exists between the U.S. and Iran now.
Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter forbids the use of armed force between states, and while Article 51 of the Charter permits use of force in self-defense, there is nothing publicly available to suggest the imminence of any such military threat, he said.
The blockade imposed by the U.S. in the strait would be categorized as a use of force under international law, in much the same way that a ground invasion would appear to be a continuation of the same war of aggression, said Chadwick.
“As such, as a broad principle of international law, the attack [and] seizure has no lawful basis to it,” Chadwick said, adding that given the capture was of a cargo ship, “it is unclear whether this would be considered a legitimate military target within an armed conflict setting.”
Update 4/21/26, 11:08 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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