Post-Invasion Oil Trade Shift Hits ‘Dark Fleet’, Watchdog Group Says

Iran is more frequently deploying its own tankers as competition for the so-called “dark fleet” intensifies. United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), a New York-based group that supports the US sanctions regime, identified 16 ships that switched from carrying Iranian oil to Russian oil, pushing Iran to deploy nine of its own ships to pick up the slack. “Notable in July was a marked increase in Iran’s use of its National Iranian Tanker Co (NITC) vessels and other Iranian-flagged tankers versus non- sanctioned foreign-flagged tankers,” the organisation said in its monthly tanker tracking note.