In the long contest between states over who may move energy across the seas, a single advocacy group's footage and claims now trace a thin route of small, disguised tankers slipping past a naval cordon. Iranian gas and oil, loaded in late summer, appear to have crossed the blockade, paused at a quiet anchorage off Malaysia, and continued toward Chinese ports, where buyers gain discounts and a sanctioned regime finds breathing room. The account rests on one source, and the question it raises is less about a single vessel than about how much pressure a blockade can apply when the cargo is small,
Iranian 'Ghost Fleet' Tankers Slip Past U.S. Blockade With Sanctioned LPG Bound for China, Group Says
Opportunistic small tankers that are just managing to breach the blockade
Mark
Why does a story about nine small tankers matter if the blockade is working?
Mimi
Because it shows where the pressure leaks. Large crude carriers are being stopped, but LPG ships are harder to confront, and those are the ones getting through.
Mark
What makes LPG harder?
Mimi
It's highly flammable. Turning a ship around is the usual method, but force against an LPG cargo would be very risky, and the smaller ships seem to rely on that.
Luke
Worth saying, though: the nine-tanker count and the SOGL's route come from UANI, an advocacy group. CENTCOM hasn't responded in the piece.
Mark
So how solid is the SOGL itself?
Mimi
Fairly. UANI filmed it at the anchorage, and the Treasury sanctioned it on October 8. That part is on record.
Luke
The sanctions confirm its alleged past activity. They don't independently confirm the September 1 breach or the Chinese discharge. Those rest on UANI's account.
Mark
What about Malaysia?
Mimi
Shelley says authorities appear to be looking the other way. The anchorage sits about 70 kilometers offshore and serves as a staging point.
Luke
Note the word 'appear.' That's her read, not a documented finding of Malaysian complicity.
Mark
And the scale?
Mimi
Small compared with Iran's past exports, and the article says so. The story is about method and pattern more than volume.
O Pulso
- A small, sanctioned gas tanker reportedly slid past the U.S. blockade in the Strait of Hormuz and vanished into open water.
- Its AIS signal was switched off and its flags shuffled, so the ship moved through the sea like a shadow.
- Advocates say the cargo was transferred to a China-bound vessel, and the trail leads to a Malaysian anchorage that officials may be overlooking.
- CENTCOM has not yet answered, and the next moves on sanctions and enforcement remain unsettled.
- Every claim comes from one group, so the story is still waiting for independent confirmation.
In the long contest between states over who may move energy across the seas, a single advocacy group's footage and claims now trace a thin route of small, disguised tankers slipping past a naval cordon. Iranian gas and oil, loaded in late summer, appear to have crossed the blockade, paused at a quiet anchorage off Malaysia, and continued toward Chinese ports, where buyers gain discounts and a sanctioned regime finds breathing room. The account rests on one source, and the question it raises is less about a single vessel than about how much pressure a blockade can apply when the cargo is small, volatile, and willing to hide.
On September 16, a supply vessel chartered by the advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran sailed about 100 nautical miles to the Eastern Outer Port Limits Anchorage off Malaysia. Its crew came to film, and among the ships they found was the SOGL, a small tanker riding low in the water with roughly 500,000 barrels of Iranian liquefied petroleum gas, according to the group.
UANI says the SOGL loaded at Assaluyeh in late August and slipped through the U.S. blockade on September 1, a journey of ten days to two weeks that ended at the anchorage. The footage shows it taking bunker fuel from a smaller tanker. Jemima Shelley, a senior UANI analyst, said Malaysian authorities appear to be looking the other way. After the visit, the SOGL sailed north and discharged at Xinzhou Port in China rather than transferring its cargo.
Shelley described the blockade as largely successful, noting that no Iranian crude has been exported since it was reinstated on July 14. The leaks come from small opportunistic tankers that go dark, fly false flags, and use ship-to-ship transfers to pass cargo along. LPG is hard to stop because turning a volatile cargo around risks disaster. China now takes nearly all of Iran's oil and LPG exports, and the anchorage serves as a key waypoint. The SOGL was sanctioned by the Treasury on October 8, but the open questions are whether Washington responds and whether sanctions reach the front companies and the anchorage itself.
On September 16, a supply vessel chartered by the advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) traveled 100 nautical miles into a patch of open water off Malaysia known as the Eastern Outer Port Limits Anchorage, or EOPL. Its crew was there to film. Among the ships they found was the SOGL, a small tanker sitting low in the water, loaded, according to UANI, with about 500,000 barrels of Iranian liquefied petroleum gas.
The footage, shared exclusively with Fox News Digital, anchors a months-long UANI investigation into how some smaller Iranian tankers are getting past the U.S. naval blockade. UANI says at least nine small tankers carrying Iranian oil or LPG have left the Gulf of Oman since Washington reinstated the blockade in mid-July. The blockade was first imposed April 13, lifted temporarily in mid-June, and restored July 14 after diplomatic negotiations collapsed. These figures and the account of the SOGL's voyage come from UANI alone; Fox News Digital has asked CENTCOM for comment.
UANI says the SOGL loaded its LPG at Assaluyeh Port in Iran in late August and slipped through the blockade on September 1. It then traveled thousands of miles to the EOPL, roughly 70 kilometers off the Malaysian coast and a 10-day-to-two-week journey from Iran. At the anchorage, the video shows the vessel receiving bunkering services from a smaller tanker. Jemima Shelley, a senior UANI analyst, said Malaysian authorities appear to be "looking the other way." After UANI's visit, she said, the SOGL did not transfer its cargo to another ship. It went north into the South China Sea and discharged at Xinzhou Port in China.
Shelley did not describe the blockade as failing. She called it an overwhelming success at keeping oil and petrochemical cargoes from leaving the Gulf of Oman, and said no Iranian crude has been successfully exported since it was reinstated. The ships getting through, she said, are opportunistic small tankers. By her account, the U.S. is concentrating on Iranian crude and very large tankers, which can carry two million barrels each.
LPG complicates enforcement. Shelley said the blockade's main technique is to turn vessels around, though force is sometimes needed, and that using it against a cargo as volatile as LPG would be extremely risky. The smaller ships exploit that. They switch off their AIS transponders, which broadcast a vessel's identity and position, and often fly false flags, making them stateless. Shelley described a common pattern: a tanker loads, crosses the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, and conducts a risky ship-to-ship transfer in the Gulf of Oman. The receiving tanker then tries to run the blockade.
The SOGL, IMO number 9208227, was added to the U.S. Treasury Department's OFAC sanctions list on October 8 over alleged transport of Iranian petroleum products since 2025. It has sailed under several flags, including those of the Comoros and Zimbabwe, and sanctions records link it to Gravion Maritime Co. Shelley said such ships are typically run through complicated front companies.
The EOPL, she said, is a key node in Iran's oil trade to China. Ghost fleet and Iran-flagged tankers sail east to it and often transfer cargo to a final tanker bound for China. It also serves as floating storage, which she credited with helping Iran survive since July. Iranian floating storage has now fallen to between zero and seven million barrels, she said. Ships there also obtain food, logistics and bunker fuel.
China has long taken about 80% of Iran's liquid cargo exports, Shelley said, and is now importing almost 100% of Iran's oil and LPG exports since the start of the Iran War. She said the arrangement lets Iran sidestep sanctions while Chinese buyers get steep discounts.
Separately, Bloomberg tracked the G Summer, a U.S.-sanctioned LPG carrier of about 7,000 cubic meters, transmitting from the Arabian Sea beyond the blockade line in April. It broadcast an "all Chinese crew" message, with analytics listing Iran as its last cargo country and Galle, Sri Lanka, as its destination. The open questions are CENTCOM's response and whether sanctions will reach the front companies or the anchorage itself.
Citações Notáveis
The U.S. blockade is an overwhelming success at preventing vessels laden with Iranian oil and petrochemicals from leaving the Gulf of Oman. It's just that there are some opportunistic small tankers that are just managing to breach the blockade.— Jemima Shelley, senior analyst, United Against Nuclear Iran
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