The passage of Iranian oil shipments through the American blockade Reuters revealed details of the secret fuel export

Reuters has reported that despite the US naval blockade and the almost complete stoppage of Iran's crude oil exports, at least nine tankers carrying liquefied natural gas and jet fuel have managed to transfer Iranian cargoes since July.

oil and energy; The US naval blockade, which has stopped most of Iran's oil exports, has not been able to completely prevent the departure of oil products from the country.

Reuters, citing four sources active in the field of maritime security and ship tracking data, wrote that in recent weeks, Iran has hidden some of its cargo amid increasing ship-to-ship operations of other Persian Gulf producers near the coast of Oman.

According to UANI Group's investigation, at least eight tankers carrying Iranian liquefied gas have left the Oman Sea since mid-July. The volume of these shipments is estimated at 4.1 million barrels. Satellite images and research by the SynMax Maritime Intelligence Institute also show that an oil tanker carrying Iranian aircraft fuel arrived in Myanmar in September.

Most of the liquefied gas cargoes have been transferred to Malaysian waters after passing through the embargo, possibly to China through ship-to-ship transfer operations.

America: The blockade is still in place

The Central Command of the US Army (CENTCOM) has emphasized that the naval blockade of Iran is still in place. According to the announcement of this institution, American forces disabled four commercial ships and forced 135 other ships to return in the last three months.

A US military official also told Reuters that the passage of ships does not necessarily mean bypassing the blockade; Because some vessels are allowed to pass after checking the documents or for humanitarian reasons.

The export of crude oil is still stopped

According to Kepler Institute data, Iran's crude oil exports have reached zero in September; An event that has been unprecedented since the beginning of tracking this institution in 2013.

However, Reuters quoted Torbjörn Soltot, senior Middle East analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, as saying that intensifying economic pressures may push Iran to accept more risk for exporting oil products. According to him, airplane fuel can be one of the export options; Because the grounding of more Iranian planes due to sanctions has increased the possibility of creating a surplus of this product in the country's refineries.

All in all, the published evidence points to the limited passage of some oil products, but there is still no sign of Iran's crude oil exports returning to pre-blockade levels.