A sanctioned Iranian tanker carrying around 500,000 barrels of liquefied petroleum gas has broken through a US naval blockade and delivered its cargo to China, according to United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), which says it filmed the vessel in a Malaysian anchorage en route.
Tanker vessel loaded with Iranian LPG transiting the Gulf of Oman (Credit: ESA Copernicus & Marine Traffic) (ESA Copernicus & Marine Traffic)
The ship, the SOGL (OMI 9208227), loaded Iranian LPG at the port of Assaluyeh in late August and passed through the blockade on September 1, UANI told Fox News. The group claims to have chartered a supply boat and traveled about 100 nautical miles to the EOPL anchorage off Malaysia on September 16, where it filmed the SOGL taking on fuel and services, before the tanker sailed north into the South China Sea and was unloaded at the port of Xinzhou in China.
On October 8, three weeks after UANI filmed it, the Treasury Department sanctioned it as one of 17 ships in the Ghost Fleet, saying the Comorian-flagged tanker, owned by Marshall Islands-based Gravion Maritime Company, “has transported more than two million barrels of Iranian propane/butane since September 2025.” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the action “deprives the tyrannical regime in Tehran of the money it uses to wage war in the region.”
Since the blockade was reestablished in July, “only about nine small tankers carrying Iranian LPG have managed to cross the blockade line,” UANI wrote in its Oct. 29 newsletter. On crude, the blockade is holding: the group claims to have not spotted a single tanker loaded with Iranian crude that has left the Gulf of Oman and escaped the application of American sanctions since July 12.
The American blockade against Iran has been very effective.
Since July 14, the US maritime blockade on ships entering and leaving Iranian ports has prevented Iran from exporting its crude oil.
The American blockade against Iran has been very effective. Since July 14, the US maritime blockade on ships entering and leaving Iranian ports has prevented Iran from exporting its crude oil. In September, UANI satellite monitoring also observed no loading of crude oil on Iranian oil export platforms. Loadings were strictly limited to non-crude oil cargoes, including small volumes of LPG, naphtha and fuel oil. — See the September @UANI monthly report: https://t.co/bKEaPZ0S1z — @JemimaShelley @mercoglianos @TankerTrackers @JonathanEmont @MarcusHand1 @tldraanan @brentdsadler @KasraAarabi @cdrsalamander
— Charlie B (@supbrow) October 8, 2026
UANI senior analyst Jemima Shelley told Fox that small tankers turn off their AIS transponders, often fly a false flag and present themselves as stateless, cross the Strait of Hormuz and hand the cargo over to another vessel in the Gulf of Oman, which then attempts to cross the blockade line. Doing this with LPG is risky, she said, and is also why U.S. forces primarily try to turn small tankers around rather than using force.
According to UANI, the DANDELION (IMO 9379404) is “probably attempting to break the US maritime blockade, loaded with 490,000 barrels of Iranian LPG”, which it picked up from the SEA OPERA during a ship-to-ship transfer off Shinas, Oman, on October 26. The SEA OPERA had loaded at Assaluyeh on August 26 and spent two months loitering in the Gulf of Oman.
Shelley called Malaysia’s EOPL anchorage a “key node in Iran’s oil trade with China” and said Malaysian authorities appear to be “looking the other way.” UANI has about 20 tankers from its “Ghost Armada” list still hanging out at EOPL, and another 22 anchored or loitering just north of it, which it says have most likely been moved after a recent enforcement by Malaysian maritime authorities.
China now absorbs “nearly 100%” of Iran’s oil and LPG exports, Shelley said, compared to about 80% of Iran’s liquid cargo exports in previous years.
UANI counts at least 53 tankers loaded with Iranian oil, mostly crude, parked along Iran’s coast, and only eight of the 52 shipments it has tracked since July 14 came from Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil terminal. As we have reported, the standoff has been building for months as the blockade deprives Tehran of oil revenues. Empty Iranian-flagged tankers that have unloaded abroad are also stranded: UANI has 20 hanging off the coast of Sri Lanka, unable to return home.
Fox said it had requested comment from U.S. Central Command. Shelley said Iranian oil in floating storage had fallen to “zero to seven million barrels” since the blockade was imposed.
By Zerohedge.com
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