Posted on 05/29/2026 7:06:10 PM PDT by MacNaughton
Thousands of miles from the Persian Gulf, a sprawling network of tanker-to-tanker oil transfers off the coast of Malaysia and Singapore is helping Iran sustain its crude exports to China, even as the country navigates a tense ceasefire with the United States.
Analysis of satellite imagery and maritime tracking data has identified the waters roughly 100 kilometres southeast of the Malay Peninsula as the primary hub for what analysts describe as a clandestine laundering operation for Iranian crude. Dozens of ship-to-ship transfers take place there every week, involving not only Iranian vessels but a wider cast of tankers serving the shadow fleet.
"It's really the main hub," said Amir Handjani of the Washington-based Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, calling the situation there "total anarchy."
Nearly 400 tankers have been sanctioned by the United States, the European Union or Britain for activities linked to Iran. The ageing vessels that make up what is widely called Iran's ghost fleet exploit opaque ownership structures, flags of convenience, absent insurance coverage and manipulated GPS data to avoid detection. Ship-to-ship transfers allow their cargoes to change hands at sea, obscuring the oil's origin before it reaches its final destination.
Iranian tankers typically load crude at Kharg Island, Iran's main offshore oil terminal in the Persian Gulf, before transiting the Strait of Hormuz and skirting the Indian subcontinent. The two- to three-week voyage takes them through the Strait of Malacca and on to anchorage areas near Singapore, where they wait for receiving vessels.
Since March 1, at least 37 Iran-linked tankers have conducted cargo transfers in the area, amounting to at least 62.3 million barrels of crude, according to data from maritime tracking firm Kpler analysed. Where final destinations were recorded, the cargoes were bound for ports in China's northern provinces of Shandong, Liaoning and Jiangsu.
The flows have continued through the conflict that began February 28. Most vessels departed the Gulf before hostilities broke out, but at least six Iranian tankers, among 26 that have crossed the Strait of Hormuz since then, have transferred a combined 10 million barrels in the Singapore area in recent weeks.
One documented chain began when the tanker Silvia 1 loaded one million barrels at Kharg Island in February, transited the Strait of Hormuz on March 3, reached the Singapore area on March 21 and transferred its cargo to the vessel Yug around March 25. The Yug subsequently received a second cargo from the Iranian tanker Seastar III on April 3. Although the Yug's current destination is unconfirmed, the Comoros-flagged tanker routinely delivers cargoes to ports in Shandong, according to Kpler and the NGO Global Fishing Watch.
Cargoes frequently pass through more than one transfer before reaching China. The Amber, carrying two million barrels out of the Gulf, offloaded to the tanker Medna on March 31, which in turn transferred the cargo to the Star Pine on April 4 before the shipment continued toward China. Two other cargoes, from the Hilda I and the Amber, were expected to arrive at the Chinese ports of Yantai in Shandong and Lianyungang in Jiangsu later this week.
Because vessels in the shadow fleet routinely switch off their automatic identification system transponders at critical moments, Kpler cannot rely on those signals alone to monitor activity. Instead, the company uses proprietary algorithms that cross-reference historical AIS data with changes in a ship's draught, a measurable indicator of whether cargo has been loaded or discharged.
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"... Some myopic morons are currently celebrating the increased global demand for U.S. gas and oil. This is a stupid and self-defeating take.
1. The increased demand is going to push U.S. inflation higher and higher, compounding our own economic problems, and
2. The world is not going to be happy to buy gas and oil at higher cost from the "mafia arsonist" who figuratively burned down all the competing gas stations in town. We are turning the entire world against America, and this will come back to haunt us.
3. Countries from France to Japan are now cutting deals with Iran to secure Strait of Hormuz passage for their tankers. They are paying in crypto and Yuan, killing the Petro Dollar, and sealing the fate of the USD as the world reserve currency.
Iran can afford to play the long game. Their ability to endure pain is proven, witness the 8-year Iran Iraq War, and our never-ending sanctions. Meanwhile, the entire planet is crashing into a great depression, thanks to our war of choice against Iran.
Iran can wait us out, we can't wait out a global great depression. We are like the scuba diver with a limited air supply, Iran is the moray eel, playing on his home terrain. ..."
Trust the plan guys,lol...
😂
You need a lot of work before you hit The Big Time Noob Bot.
“Iranian tankers typically load crude at Kharg Island, Iran’s main offshore oil terminal in the Persian Gulf, before transiting the Strait of Hormuz and skirting the Indian subcontinent. The two- to three-week voyage takes them through the Strait of Malacca and on to anchorage areas near Singapore, where they wait for receiving vessels.”
This is nonsense. Iranian tankers are stopped (one way or another) and do not transiting the Strait of Hormuz. They are very large so you don’t get to sneak one through.
Supply is not a constant. As prices increase so does supply. Other sources than Iran will pick up the slack,
Read the article, again. "Iranian" tankers are the ghost fleet registered under other nations' flags.
This article is a lie or our government is lying to us. We have closed the straits to Iranian traffic period. That includes their ghost fleet.
“Who is lying, a Turkey based news agency or Donald Trump?” It is not The Donald. Could a ship slip through is subject to debate. Can a fleet of ships slip through is just plain damn no. I suspect Donald does not want to make a fleet of tankers burning metal, pollution, and death. He could and will if there is no alternative. Donald has not destroyed Kharg Island as he knows it is essential for a Free Irans recovery. No Kharg Island and Iran is economically nothing.
Oddly, Kharg Island is one of the most vulnerable targets in the world. It is 2 miles of oil tanks by 1/2 mile. We did not hit these nor did the Israelis. Two B52s with precision dumb bombs with the Raytheon tail kit could hit each and every oil storage tank with precision. We did not do this as we hope they come to their senses. If they do not it will happen and Iran will become of no importance except for the internal hell and death that will follow.
I hope this does not happen. I lived there in the time of the Shah and it was good. I do not know what happened to my childhood friends. Ali was my best friend whom lived next door. Odd is it not that little kids bridge cultures with ease and become friends. I have forgot my Farsi but remember talking to Ali as a kid. Today it is just English and Spanish.
I doubt many tankers with Iranian oil have transited the Straits of Hormuz since March 1st. But many have sailed from Chabahar, on the Gulf of Oman.
Despite the boasting about this blockade, nobody really believed it would actually impact the oil flow to countries like China or Russia.
“Read the article, again. “Iranian” tankers are the ghost fleet registered under other nations’ flags.”
If they stop at an Iranian port they don’t get out, now.
Not the dates in the article.
“I doubt many tankers with Iranian oil have transited the Straits of Hormuz since March 1st.”
Trump didn’t blockade for many weeks.
It’s only about now that China is getting the final shipments from Iran, for a time.
“Countries from France to Japan are now cutting deals with Iran to secure Strait of Hormuz passage for their tankers.”
The Israelis have submarines and advanced missiles.
“This article is a lie or our government is lying to us. We have closed the straits to Iranian traffic period.”
See the date. Since March 1. Many of these ships got through before we put heavy sanctions on in April and definitely before we set up the blockade.
“Despite the boasting about this blockade, nobody really believed it would actually impact the oil flow to countries like China or Russia.”
It has definitely affected oil flow to Russia.
It has not affected oil flow to Russia because there was no oil flow to Russia to affect. Russia is an oil exporter.
The tanker transfers were an attempt to avoid sanctions, especially banking sanctions against foreign companies that violated US sanctions against Iran. Doubt there is much tanker shuffling occurring now. The Iranians cannot load tankers at Kharg Island and cannot ship their crude through the Strait. If the US took the step of stopping the export of oil by truck to Pakistan and across the Caspian Sea for trans shipment through Russia, then the Iranians would collapse. The amount of oil they are managing to sell this way is relatively small but provides funds that allows them to buy drones and missiles.
“I doubt many tankers with Iranian oil have transited the Straits of Hormuz since March 1st.”.....Trump didn’t blockade for many weeks....It’s only about now that China is getting the final shipments from Iran, for a time.
...that's the key.
Nonsense. At most, the Iranian shadow fleet is buying oil in the Malaysian - Indonesian region and selling it on to China.
The proof is that Iran is loading so little oil onto tankers that they are dumping into the sea.
Also, it does not matter if tankers turn off transponders when the U.S. blockade can use radar to locate ships in the narrow waters that are blocked.
Nonsense again. The article says that the oil is being tranferred off the Malaysian coast.
Neither the U.S. nor Iran are letting tankers thru Hormuz.
Do you really think that we cannot spot tankers transferring oil within the Persian Gulf?
So, Iraq, Kuwait, and UAE are not shipping oil out of the Persian Gulf?
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