America would struggle to break Iran’s oil-smuggling complex

In february dilro, an obscure company based in Dubai, bought the Ocean Kapal, an 18-year-old tanker. Since then the Panamanian-flagged vessel has been given a new name, Abundance III, and a new job. In April the ship delivered its first load of Iranian oil to the port of Dongjiakou in northern China. After completing a similar trip in September, it now lingers off Malaysia, where it may pick up yet another Iranian cargo. The ship is one of many to have recently joined the “dark fleet” tasked with moving Iranian oil, exports of which have surged from 380,000 barrels per day (b/d) in 2020 to 1.4m now (see chart).