The U.S. is using an Iranian smuggling tactic to sneak oil out of the Gulf

The United States military has overseen scores of secretive ship-to-ship oil transfers to keep Gulf energy exports flowing, using aerial and water drones as well as helicopters in an operation to guide convoys to awaiting tankers. The operation on the edge of ​the Strait of Hormuz employs a shuttling technique long used by Iran to skirt sanctions. Two specific locations where the oil transfers take place were identified by 11 people familiar with the operation – one off the coast of Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates and the other off Oman’s port of Sohar. It ‌started in early May, and at least 92 ships have been involved in the transfers, according to shipping data and satellite imagery reviewed by Reuters.

As recently as June 11,17 pairs of ships could be ​seen carrying out simultaneous oil transfers at the two sites, according to satellite images reviewed by Reuters. An Apache helicopter downed by Iran on June 9, sparking retaliatory bombings by the U.S., was involved in the mission, according to four sources, ⁠including a former U.S. official with knowledge of the attack. Using satellite imagery, Reuters counted six pairs of tanker ships clustered together in a small area off the port of Sohar the day the Apache was shot down.

Reuters could not confirm what role the Apache played in the operation. In response to Reuters questions, a U.S. defense official said no Central Command forces are taking part in an offshore ship-to-ship oil transfer operation. Both crew members were rescued by a drone boat, U.S. officials said.

The extent of the ship-to-ship transfers, how they work, and the Apache’s role in the operation have not been ‌previously reported. The White House referred questions to Centcom. The Iranian government did not respond to requests for comment about the transfer operation. The two spots where these transfers take place, in the Gulf of Oman near the exit of the Strait of Hormuz, are close to the boundaries drawn by the Persian Gulf Strait Authority, a new Iranian body established to manage the Hormuz Strait. Ships that fail to comply with Iran’s orders are at risk of drone and missile attack ‌by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Fujairah port itself has come under repeated Iranian fire during the time this U.S.-led operation has been underway. This past weekend, according to the British maritime risk management group Vanguard, an “unknown projectile” struck a tanker off ‌the coast ⁠of Oman. Vanguard said in a statement that the crew was safe and that the impact caused some leakage of the cargo, but no environmental damage. It did not specify whether the tanker was involved in a ship-to-ship ⁠transfer. Iran responded to the U.S.-Israeli war by effectively closing the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly a fifth of global oil consumption normally passes. That created the biggest global energy supply disruption in history and has spurred inflation around the world. The ship-to-ship transfers, though risky and inefficient, appear to be a part of the Trump administration’s efforts to help restore normal oil flows from the Gulf. U.S. President Donald Trump said the Strait of Hormuz would reopen Friday under a framework peace deal with Iran announced this week, but details remain vague. Reuters could not determine whether the announced deal had affected the oil transfers. A Reuters investigation published May 20 found that Iran has established its ​own system for ushering ships through the opposite side of the Strait, involving island checkpoints, diplomatic deals and sometimes ‌fees.

The American transfer operations are fully controlled by the U.S. military, said eight of the sources, including a private security contractor who has been involved in the transfers.

Tankers must sail to a meeting point before they reach the strait, then stagger their departures so they are around 3,000 to 4,000 meters apart, according to one of the sources as well as satellite imagery. Their transponders are off and their lights are dimmed, according to four sources.

A series of waypoints allow the U.S. military to monitor the progress of the designated tankers, but the Americans are “obviously watching you all the time,” one of the sources said.

When they pass through the strait, just beyond a zone that Iran has delineated as under its control, the tankers pull alongside ‌the recipient ships, which are Very Large Crude Carriers, or VLCCs, to begin the oil transfers. These take between 24 and 40 hours to complete. The empty tankers then shuttle back through the strait and the newly loaded VLCCs sail onward.

What ​makes this ship-to-ship operation possible is that there are a few shippers willing to sail their vessels through the strait to deliver the oil to the waiting tankers, despite the Iranian blockade.

But the operation is risky. “You just don't know when Iran might just decide to start using drones or even gunboats in order to prevent even those ships from transiting the strait,” said Noam Raydan, a senior fellow at Washington Institute who specializes in maritime risk ⁠and who reviewed Reuters’ findings.

The ship-to-ship technique has been used by Iran for years to bypass sanctions, because it masks the source of the oil. The Iranians usually operate one pair of ships at a time, both to avoid detection and because its prewar exports were relatively small. The U.S.-led operation, which involves mass transfers, gives Gulf producers better protection from Iranian retaliatory attacks so they can move crude, condensate and petroleum products to international buyers.

Reuters reviewed more than a dozen satellite images taken between May 2 and June 11 showing ship-to-ship transfers involving state-owned Gulf tanker ‌fleets and internationally operated vessels that receive the oil. LSEG and Kpler shipping data reviewed by Reuters showed repeated rendezvous between tankers operating in the area during the same period.