Myanmar Disguised Iranian Jet Fuel as Diesel — SkimNews
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- Reef carried about 113,000 barrels of Iranian jet fuel from Bandar Abbas to Myanmar in December 2025, while a US$15.8 million contract described the cargo as South African diesel.
- National Energy Prime Aviation Services Company, part-owned by Myanmar’s military-backed government, was told days before the Reef’s arrival that import documents would label the fuel as diesel; the regulator also authorized payment to Tawan-Oil Trading.
- Dynamic Wave agreed in May 2025 to buy 202,000 barrels of what a contract described as South African diesel for US$26 million, but the invoice’s fuel density matched jet fuel and its price was more than 50% above a global diesel benchmark.
- Noble called at Yangon on June 17, 2025, carrying just under 200,000 barrels of jet fuel; satellite analysis showed it loaded at Bandar Abbas, while its location signals pointed to Chittagong in Bangladesh.
- Tawan-Oil Trading was identified by UN experts in 2024 as a jet-fuel supplier to Myanmar’s military; both diesel-labeled contracts paid into Siam Commercial Bank, which said its Myanmar transactions were legitimate and unconnected to arms trade, though Reuters could not determine whether it knew Tawan’s business.
- Iran was the Myanmar military’s primary jet-fuel supplier from October 2024 through December 2025, and SynMax analysis found further shipments between Iran and Myanmar in 2026.
- U.S. imposed targeted sanctions on Myanmar’s jet-fuel industry in 2023, citing the military’s civilian bombing campaign; buyers of Iranian oil and fuel were also exposed to sweeping American sanctions.
Why it matters: Tehran earns foreign currency while Myanmar’s junta obtains fuel for commercial aviation and air raids; the May and December cargoes involved 202,000 and about 113,000 barrels under diesel-labeled contracts worth US$26 million and US$15.8 million. Sanctions are forcing concealment, but the supply chain still reaches the military.
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