If You Can't Beat Them, Copy Them: US Copies Iran's Playbook To Move Oil Through Hormuz

Published 16 June 2026 · world

If You Can't Beat Them, Copy Them: US Copies Iran's Playbook To Move Oil Through Hormuz Published By, Last Updated: June 16, 2026, 23:48 IST

If You Can't Beat Them, Copy Them: US Copies Iran's Playbook To Move Oil Through Hormuz Published By, Last Updated: June 16, 2026, 23:48 IST The US military has run covert ship-to-ship oil transfers near the Strait of Hormuz since May, using a tactic Iran pioneered to dodge sanctions A satellite image of side-by-side ships at sea, off the coast of Sohar, Oman, June 9, 2026. (Image Courtesy: Airbus via Reuters) The United States military has been overseeing a covert operation since early May to move Gulf oil out of the Strait of Hormuz through secretive ship-to-ship transfers, borrowing a leaf from Iran’s guidebook on bypassing international sanctions, Reuters reported Monday. The operation, run near the exit of the strait off the coasts of the UAE and Oman, has involved at least 92 ships and may have moved roughly 90 million barrels of crude oil and petroleum products since it began, according to satellite imagery and shipping data reviewed by Reuters. How The Operation Works The mechanism is deliberately covert. Tankers sail to a designated meeting point before the strait, stagger their departures roughly 3,000 to 4,000 meters apart, kill their transponders, and dim their lights. They then proceed to one of two transfer sites, one off Fujairah in the UAE and another off Oman’s port of Sohar, where they pull alongside Very Large Crude Carriers and pump across their cargo.

Each transfer takes between 24 and 40 hours, after which the empty tankers then shuttle back through the strait, while the loaded carriers sail onward. Eight sources, including a private security contractor directly involved in the transfers, told Reuters that the operation is fully controlled by the US military. Operators seeking access must submit geospatial tracking histories, beneficial ownership disclosures, and cargo documentation to the US Navy’s Naval Cooperation and Guidance for Shipping office in Bahrain, and are assigned transit windows only after clearing a compliance review. The Apache Connection An Apache helicopter that was shot down by Iran on June 9, which then triggered retaliatory US bombings, was involved in the same mission, according to four sources including a former US official with knowledge of the attack. Both crew members were rescued by a drone boat. Reuters counted six pairs of tanker ships clustered together off Sohar the day the Apache was downed. A US defense official said that no Central Command forces were participating in any offshore ship-to-ship oil transfer operation. Reuters could not independently confirm the role played by the gunship. Iran’s Own Tactic, At Scale The ship-to-ship transfer technique is not new. Iran has used it for years to move oil under sanctions, typically running one pair of ships at a time to avoid detection, given its relatively low prewar export volumes.