UANI’s final Tanker Tracker for 2024 reviews the year’s topline data points, UANI’s impact, and offers prescriptions for 2025.

Iran’s ability to sustain and increase its oil exports remains a critical factor in keeping the regime financially afloat. In 2024, despite U.S. sanctions, Iranian exports remained high, benefiting from OPEC+ cuts and the ongoing lax enforcement of sanctions. This helped the regime to bolster its economic resilience while continuing its support for human rights abuses and proxies like Hezbollah and Hamas.

As all eyes were focused over the last few days on Syria and the historic events unfolding there, little attention has been given to Lebanon and the troubling statements coming out from Beirut, which tried to downplay the importance of the ceasefire agreement with Israel and to minimize the scope of its conditions. 

The announcement of the ceasefire agreement that ended the war between Israel and Hezbollah was followed by efforts from Hezbollah officials to portray the war as a great victory. Nevertheless, outside of Hezbollah's immediate sphere of influence in the Shiite sect, few in Lebanon see the outcome of the year-long war as an achievement. 

The incoming second Trump Administration has reignited interest in the "Maximum Pressure" campaign on Iran, signaling intentions to further limit the Iranian regime’s oil exports and its financial resources. While these actions aim to curb Iran’s destabilizing influence, the persistence and expansion of illicit networks—operating under the guise of the "Dark Fleet"—underscore the ongoing challenges to enforcement.

As the war between Hezbollah and Israel is still ongoing, international mediators, led by the U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, are trying to lay the groundwork for a ceasefire agreement. The operating assumption is that the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) is going to play a critical role in any such agreement that will dictate the nature of the next phase in the bilateral relationship between Israel and Lebanon. 

Since the brutal October 7 attack by Iran-backed Hamas, the Biden Administration has noticeably ramped up sanctions on “Ghost Fleet” tankers. As of October 28, 2024, a total of 98 tankers were sanctioned during the preceding twelve months. 

A month has passed since Israel abandoned its containment policy towards Hezbollah's attacks over the past year and went on the offense against the organization. By now, Israel has decapitated most of Hezbollah's leadership and caused significant damage to the organization's advanced and long-range weapons capabilities.

On September 25, the United States slapped more sanctions on entities and individuals connected to Iran's petroleum sector—by far the regime’s most important financial lifeline. The U.S.