Masters of the Ghost Armada: The Captains Steering Iran’s Illicit Oil Trade [Updated on March 4, 2025]

UANI’s Masters of the Ghost Armada: The Captains Steering Iran’s Illicit Oil Trade is a groundbreaking tool that identifies and tracks captains and chief officers serving on vessels sanctioned for illegally transporting Iranian oil. These maritime officers are not merely unsuspecting bystanders in this illicit trade. They are directly responsible for overseeing the illicit operations, from falsifying records to coordinating ship-to-ship transfers, making them critical enablers of sanctions evasion.

This resource provides detailed information, including vessel names, International Maritime Organization (IMO) numbers, crew ranks, and service dates. By publicly naming these captains and officers, UANI seeks to expose and ultimately disrupt their operations and hold them accountable for their complicity in sanctions violations.

As persons in command, captains have the power to end these operations by cooperating with authorities. Every individual listed in UANI’s Masters of the Ghost Armada Resource has a choice: do the right thing by redirecting their vessels to friendly waters for inspection and seizure or continue their illegal activities at great personal and professional risk. 

This resource is built using confidential and open source data and will be updated monthly to ensure governments, regulators, and the maritime industry have access to the most current information. By targeting these key players, UANI seeks to disrupt smuggling networks and hold those complicit in sanctions violations accountable.