Myanmar's junta disguised purchases of sanctioned Iranian jet fuel as South African diesel, Reuters reports

Myanmar's military government bought Iranian jet fuel using paperwork that presented the cargoes as South African diesel, according to a Reuters investigation. Reuters says the US-sanctioned tanker Reef, later renamed Maris, reached Myanmar waters in December 2025 with about 113,000 barrels loaded at Bandar Abbas, under a $15.8 million contract between broker Dynamic Wave and Thailand's Tawan-Oil Trading. A 30 November letter seen by Reuters shows Myanmar's foreign exchange regulator agreeing to label the fuel as diesel. The tanker Noble also carried just under 200,000 barrels of jet fuel loaded at Bandar Abbas to Yangon, Reuters says. The US has sanctioned Myanmar's jet fuel industry since 2023. Amnesty International linked both tankers to jet fuel deliveries to Myanmar in January.

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