China is reportedly using a “dark fleet” to conduct secret ship-to-ship transfers of Iranian oil in an effort to evade U.S. sanctions on Tehran’s tankers.
CBS News sent a crew to scout an area roughly 80 nautical miles from Singapore and found four ship-to-ship transfers occurring; all the “dark fleet” tankers had their transponders switched off, and “clearly do not want to be identified,” the outlet reported.
“Both ships have a net or something, a tarp, deployed over the stern, covering the name and identification number — it’s obvious deceptive practice,” Charlie Brown, senior adviser with United Against Nuclear Iran and advisor to the Trump administration, who has been studying the “dark fleet” for years, stated.
“This is ‘dark fleet’ parking central,” he commented, calling one ship, the Tifani, “a well-known ‘dark fleet’ tanker.”
“The tankers, full of oil, sail from the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Malacca to the Riau archipelago,” CBS News noted. “There, they transfer the crude to ships bound for China, which buys 90% of Iran’s oil. … According to a congressional report last year, this trade generated as much as $70 billion for Iran, propping up the regime and its nuclear weapons program. … By the end of the day, 12 ship-to-ship transfers were recorded in the Riau archipelago — an unprecedented number and a clear indication Iran and China are only ramping up this illicit activity.”
On Wednesday, in its most significant Iran-related action since 2018, the Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on more than 50 individuals and entities and identified more than 50 vessels that are part of the vast shipping empire controlled by Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani (Hossein). Hossein is the son of Ali Shamkhani, a top political advisor to the Supreme Leader of Iran.
“The Shamkhani family’s shipping empire highlights how the Iranian regime elites leverage their positions to accrue massive wealth and fund the regime’s dangerous behavior,” Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent stated. “The over 115 sanctions issued today are the largest to-date since the Trump Administration implemented our campaign of maximum pressure on Iran. These actions put America first by targeting regime elites that profit while Tehran threatens the safety of the United States.”
“Hossein’s network exerts control over a significant portion of Iran’s crude oil exports, the proceeds of which substantially benefit his family and the Iranian regime,” the Treasury Department declared. “His father, Ali Shamkhani was previously sanctioned by the U.S. in 2020.”
“Mohammad Hossein Shamkhani’s (Hossein) network comprises a vast fleet of vessels, ship management firms, and front companies—some posing as legitimate financial services firms—that launder billions in profits from global sales of Iranian and Russian crude oil and other petroleum products, most often to buyers in China,” the Treasury Department added. “The network employs significant measures to disguise its operations and obfuscate its ties to the Shamkhani family, Iran, and Russia.”