Washington has reimposed its naval blockade of Iranian ports after the collapse of a planned peace deal to end the US-Israeli war on Iran.
For decades, the US has tried to isolate Iran, holder of the world’s third largest proven oil reserves, from the global shipping industry with a range of sanctions.
However, the Islamic Republic has been able to maintain some revenue through a network of rickety tankers often described as its “shadow fleet”, which occupy a legal grey zone and use subterfuge to skirt the US measures.
How do shadow fleets work?
Shadow tankers, also known as “dark fleets” or “ghost fleets”, are ships that operate on the fringes of the global shipping industry to transport oil and other commodities from countries facing western sanctions.
