US naval blockade: Islamic Republic sent jet fuel to Myanmar's military

Despite the US naval blockade, the Islamic Republic delivered a cargo of jet fuel to Myanmar in September, a country whose ruling military is under US sanctions for bombing civilians. Satellite imagery and analysis by the maritime intelligence group SynMax show that a tanker carrying Iranian jet fuel reached Myanmar. Myanmar's military government has not responded to questions about receiving the cargo.

According to Jemima Shelley, a senior research analyst at United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), at least eight liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tankers carrying about 4.1 million barrels have left the Gulf of Oman since mid-July. Some of these ships transferred their cargo ship-to-ship near the Omani towns of Shinas and Sohar, and most headed for waters off eastern Malaysia, where, in UANI's assessment, the cargoes' final destination is China. Six of the eight tankers, as well as the ship carrying the jet fuel, are themselves under US sanctions for transporting the Islamic Republic's petroleum products.

A blockade that has not been broken

These cargoes are only a small fraction of the Islamic Republic's former energy exports and are no sign that the blockade has been broken. According to data from Kpler, Iran's crude oil exports fell to zero in September, the first month without a single cargo since the company began tracking in 2013. US Central Command calls the blockade "ironclad" and says that since it was reimposed on 14 July, four commercial vessels have been disabled and 135 ships turned back. A US military official has said that a ship passing through the area does not necessarily mean it evaded the blockade.

Four sources working in maritime security and Persian Gulf oil tracking have said the Islamic Republic concealed some cargoes among other regional producers' ship-to-ship transfers in Omani waters. Torbjorn Soltvedt, an analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, has warned that worsening economic conditions could push Tehran to take greater risks in selling petroleum products, especially jet fuel.

Selling fuel to an army accused of bombing its own citizens offers another picture of the Islamic Republic's priorities: a regime whose head of government says it lacks the money to import the petrol people need and whose oil output has fallen below two million barrels.

Iran's crude exports fell to zero in September, but the Islamic Republic sent jet fuel to Myanmar's military.