China Buys Iranian Oil in Circumvention of U.S. Sanctions, Using a "Shadow Fleet." CBS News Journalists Tracked Tankers on the High Seas

A CBS News crew decided to follow the tankers to prove the transfer by filming it. They were accompanied by Charlie Brown, a former US Navy officer and senior adviser to the United Against Nuclear Iran organization. . . . During the raid (the journalists covered almost 150 km), CBS News recorded four oil transfers, all of which were carried out with their transponders turned off. Moreover, some of the tankers had their names covered with cloth. Brown pointed to the tanker Tifani, calling it “one of the most well-known ships in the ‘shadow fleet’ that regularly appears in these waters.”