Intelligence data regarding shipping movements, confirmed by security sources, indicated that Iran has managed since July to export quantities of liquefied petroleum gas and aviation fuel, despite the maritime blockade imposed by the United States.
The Hebrew channel i24NEWS reported on Sunday, in a report reviewed by "Video News Agency," that four maritime security experts tracking oil movements in the Gulf mentioned to Reuters that Tehran has recently concealed these shipments within increasing operations to transfer goods from one ship to another, conducted by other producers in the Gulf off the coast of Oman.
This marks the first time that these Iranian export operations and their implementation mechanisms have been revealed. Although these quantities represent only a small portion of the energy exports that Iran previously used to send, they are considered rare evidence of successful delivery of Iranian petroleum products through a blockade that has completely halted Iranian crude oil exports.
An analysis conducted by the organization "United Against Nuclear Iran," an American lobbying group monitoring oil tanker movements linked to Iran through tracking ships and satellite images, indicated that at least eight gas tankers carrying Iranian liquefied petroleum gas have left the Gulf of Oman since mid-July. Additionally, satellite images and analyses conducted by the maritime intelligence group "Sin Max" revealed that another tanker carrying Iranian aviation fuel arrived in Myanmar in September.
Jim Yama Shelley, a senior researcher at "United Against Nuclear Iran," stated, "What we have observed is the passage of a limited number of tankers carrying Iranian liquefied petroleum gas, while U.S. forces have redirected the vast majority of tankers laden with Iranian products." Shelley explained that some Iranian gas tankers delivered their cargoes near the towns of Shinas and Suhar in Oman, while others waited in the Gulf of Oman before continuing their journey, bypassing the American blockade; a blockade that U.S. Central Command reported is concentrated in the Gulf of Oman. Shelley added that the total quantity of these liquefied petroleum gas shipments was estimated to be around 4.1 million barrels. Shelley said that these shipments came "out of opportunism" rather than as an expression of a new strategy for Iran to export its oil and petrochemical products through the use of smaller ships.
Shelley explained that most of these shipments were directed to the eastern outer port area in Malaysia for further transshipment of cargo from one ship to another, likely in preparation for transport to destinations in China.