INTERNATIONAL SCHEME: Iran, China work to get oil from Strait of Hormuz to Asia
FOX Business correspondent Lauren Simonetti reports on the elaborate network that is moving billions of dollars worth of Iranian oil to Asia on ‘Special Report.’
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Video Summary
AI GeneratedIran and China are utilizing a \"Dark Fleet\" of clandestine tankers to bypass U.S. sanctions and transport Iranian oil to Asia. By using ship-to-ship transfers in nautical no-man's lands and disabling tracking signals, Iran continues to fund its regime while China supplies its refineries, despite ongoing blockades and international pressure.
Fox Business correspondent Lauren Simonetti joins us tonight with details on that.
Good evening, Lauren.
Good evening, Brett.
Iran cooperates with China in an elaborate scheme to get oil from inside the Strait of
Hormuz to Asia, using ships known as the Dark Fleet.
There's an entire industry out there that works around the fringes of the oil sector
because the incentives to move oil are so strong.
There was a lot of oil on the water that was being moved in these types of movements more
The clandestine network is concentrated in a nautical no-man's land off the coast of
Malaysia between Chinese and Iranian waters, where experts say illicit Iranian oil is moved
daily onto vessels bound for China.
These 12 satellite images document the ship-to-ship transfers.
They were taken over the past few months in a process that has been well-choreographed
for years.
First, an oil tanker conceals its location by blacking out its identity number and shutting
its transmission signal.
It then pairs up with another vessel to transfer cargo.
In the specific arrangement between Iran and China, the empty vessel returns to the Strait
of Hormuz.
The loaded vessel moves east to Asia.
This is how China feeds its refineries and Iran feeds its coffers.
It's the hands, Brett, that keeps on giving because billions of dollars of Iranian oil
loaded onto ships before the U.S. blockade took effect last month have yet to reach Chinese
ports.
That means money for the regime can keep coming in.
But the payment and cash flow stops in September, October.
I know that's only when the pain on the Iranian economy starts to build up as much as the
neighboring countries have been feeling the same pain.
Tanker tracker says 1.4 million barrels of oil per day have passed from Tehran to Beijing
in the past year, despite U.S. sanctions and a blockade.
Russia and Venezuela are other oil producers using shadow fleets to keep their product
on the market, Brett.
Yes, fascinating.
Lauren, thank you.