How purchases of sanctioned Iranian jet fuel were disguised by Myanmar

In December 2025, the US-sanctioned tanker Reef arrived in Myanmar waters with some 113,000 barrels of fuel backed by sham paperwork.

Myanmar-based energy broker Dynamic Wave ordered the ​shipment, agreeing in a sales contract inked with Thailand’s Tawan-Oil Trading to supposedly take delivery of a similar amount of South African diesel. But the $15.8 million agreement, which Reuters viewed, was a charade: there was no such trade ‌between South Africa and Myanmar in 2025, according to data from the United Nations and Vortexa, a shipping and energy data provider.

In reality, Reef carried jet fuel from Iran to Myanmar, according to records of fuel shipments to Myanmar, as well as satellite images and analysis by SynMax Intelligence, which tracked the tanker’s journey from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas to Southeast Asia.

Myanmar’s military junta was involved in the ​ruse. Days before Reef arrived, Myanmar’s foreign exchange regulator told the client of Dynamic Wave that it would issue import documentation that labeled the delivery as diesel “instead of jet fuel,” according to a copy ⁠of the agency’s November 30 letter seen by Reuters.

Read more: Reuters