Small Iranian tankers operating as part of a so-called ghost fleet are slipping past the U.S. naval blockade and delivering sanctioned liquefied petroleum gas to China through an offshore hub off Malaysia, according to a months-long investigation by United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI). The group covertly filmed one of the vessels en route in September.
UANI said at least nine similar tankers carrying Iranian oil or LPG have evaded U.S. restrictions in the Strait of Hormuz since Washington reinstated the Iranian port blockade in mid-July. Most vessels have not managed to get through, the group said, and the breaches appear limited to smaller ships.
The vessel at the center of the group's findings is the SOGL. UANI said it escaped the blockade on Sept. 1 carrying about 500,000 barrels of Iranian LPG, which it had collected at the Iranian port of Assaluyeh in August. The tanker then traveled thousands of miles to the Malaysian Eastern Outer Port Limits Anchorage, known as the EOPL, where UANI filmed it receiving fuel and other services offshore. The ship then continued to China, where the group said it discharged its cargo.
Jemima Shelley, a senior analyst at UANI, said the footage shows that some vessels are managing to breach the U.S. maritime blockade. "Most vessels aren't, but since the reinstatement in mid-July, we have seen only nine small tankers being successful in their breach of the U.S. blockade and departing the Gulf of Oman laden with oil or LPG," she said.
The EOPL is an offshore shipping area about 70 kilometers from Malaysia's coastline. Shelley said it has become a critical staging ground for Iran's sanctioned energy trade with China. The anchorage allows vessels to wait offshore, receive supplies and transfer cargo between tankers, giving Iranian energy exports a logistical lifeline as American naval forces patrol waters closer to Iran. UANI chartered a supply vessel on Sept. 16 and traveled 100 nautical miles into the anchorage, where it said it observed ghost fleet tankers and Iran-flagged cargo ships, including the SOGL.
The U.S. blockade was first imposed on April 13, temporarily lifted in mid-June and reinstated on July 14 after diplomatic negotiations collapsed. Shelley described the operation as largely effective at stopping crude exports. "No Iranian crude oil has managed to depart and be a successful export for Iran, which is a huge economic pressure for the Iranian regime," she said. She added that the U.S. is primarily prioritizing Iranian crude and very large tankers, which often carry about two million barrels.
Shelley said the smaller vessels exploit the difficulties of enforcing the blockade on LPG, a flammable mixture of hydrocarbons, primarily propane and butane, used for heating, cooking, transportation and industrial production. Blockade forces first try to turn vessels around, she said, and using military force against such volatile cargo would carry far greater risk. According to Shelley, the tankers often switch off their Automatic Identification System transponders, fly false flags and operate as stateless vessels. They also conduct ship-to-ship transfers in the Gulf of Oman, a practice she described as very high-risk because the cargo is LPG rather than crude.
The SOGL, identified by IMO number 9208227, was added to the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctions list on Oct. 8 over its alleged involvement in transporting Iranian petroleum products since 2025. The vessel has operated under multiple flags, including those of the Comoros and Zimbabwe, and sanctions records link it to Gravion Maritime Co. The overall volume moved by these small tankers remains modest compared with Iran's historical energy exports.