The United States is reportedly running a secret oil transportation network near the Strait of Hormuz, adopting a tactic long associated with Iran to keep Gulf crude oil flowing despite Tehran’s blockade of the strategic waterway.The operation, which began in early May, involves transferring oil between ships off the coasts of Oman and the United Arab Emirates before loading it onto larger tankers for export, Reuters reported, citing shipping data, satellite images and more than a dozen sources familiar with the arrangements.The report estimates that about 90 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products may have moved through the maritime network since early May, although this is still far less than the approximately 20 million barrels that passed through the strait daily before the conflict.At least 92 ships were involved in the operation, which relied on ships proceeding with transponders turned off and lights dimmed; Methods commonly used by Iran’s so-called “dark fleet” to evade sanctions and conceal cargo movements.The transportation network emerged after Iran effectively closed access through the Strait of Hormuz during the conflict, disrupting one of the world’s most important energy corridors.
About a fifth of global oil consumption usually passes through the waterway.Sources told Reuters that the US military coordinated surveillance, compliance checks and transit monitoring of the participating ships, although there was no indication that US personnel were directly involved in the transfers themselves.The operation enabled Gulf producers to continue exporting crude oil despite the increasing security risks, but analysts warned that the system was still vulnerable.
“You don’t know when Iran might decide to start using drones or even gunboats to prevent even those ships from crossing the strait,” said Noam Ridan, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute who reviewed the Reuters findings.The use of tactics previously associated with sanctioned countries has also drawn the attention of foreign policy observers. “With the old rules weakening, it is ironic that the United States is now taking a page from the playbook of China, Russia, North Korea, and even Iran, whose so-called ‘dark fleets’ have pioneered these techniques precisely to evade U.S. and UN sanctions,” Michael Froman, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, wrote in a memo.
