ICYMI: Daily Mail Highlights UANI Evidence Of Illicit Sanctions-Busting Activities Between Iran And China

(New York, N.Y.) – United Against Nuclear Iran’s (UANI) efforts to investigate and report the illegal transfer of Iranian oil into Chinese ports by sanctions-busting tanker fleets were highlighted by The Daily Mail on Sunday. Using various sources and methods, UANI has caught and catalogued evidence of the clandestine operations occurring between the two nations as Iran works to secretly bolster its nuclear program capabilities amid U.S., U.N. and E.U. sanctions imposed on the Iranian regime:

“…Ships also use ‘flag hopping’ to switch their registration between nations and mask their identity. U.S. sanctions designed to stop Iran financing international terrorism and developing its nuclear programme ban the Middle East state from selling oil abroad. But China has flouted the ban and increased its secret dealings at sea over the past six months to help bankroll Iran’s nuclear activity, according to United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), an international not-for-profit group led by former US ambassador to the UN Mark Wallace.”

Each month, UANI publishes a blog post outlining potential sanctions violations by Iranian-affiliated ships and shipping companies. Data from UANI’s May 2021 Iran Tanker Tracking campaign was highlighted in The Daily Mail’s recent coverage:

“…It used satellite imagery and round-the-clock tracking to monitor the illicit trade. China was reportedly buying an average of 700,000 barrels of illegal Iranian oil a day up to April, peaking at a million barrels, making it Tehran’s main customer. Ghost armada ships carrying 18 million barrels are currently thought to be in the South China Sea. Between February and May, UANI successfully applied for seven ships in the fleet, which includes 20 supertankers able to carry more than two million barrels of oil, to have their flags deregistered after alerting national authorities and insurers.”

Speaking to The Daily Mail, UANI senior adviser Sir Ivor Roberts detailed the brazen methods used to help Iran skirt oil sanctions:

“…UANI senior adviser Sir Ivor Roberts, a former Foreign Office counter-terrorism chief, said that if only a sixth of the armada’s tankers evaded detection and completed a shipment each week, Iran would be exporting 2.4 million barrels a day – 300,000 more than before sanctions were reimposed in 2018. He added: ‘The volume of black-market oil China is buying from Iran is staggering. That gives the regime in Tehran the foreign currency it needs to build up its reserves, ramp up its nuclear programme in the face of international sanctions and pursue its terror-sponsoring agenda abroad. 'This shadowy alliance is a challenge to the West and… has potentially huge implications for our security.’”

To read The Daily Mail coverage in full, please click here.

To read UANI’s blog post, May 2021 Iran Tanker Tracking, please click here.

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