How Myanmar dodged US sanctions to get Iranian jet fuel
A Reuters investigation reveals that Myanmar's military government allegedly disguised Iranian jet fuel as South African diesel to bypass US sanctions. The scheme involved falsified trade contracts and import documents to secure fuel for military airstrikes.
Why it matters
This highlights the difficulty of enforcing international sanctions when regional intermediaries and falsified documentation are used to obscure the origin of restricted goods.
Myanmar allegedly disguised Iranian jet fuel as South African diesel to bypass US sanctions, using trade contracts and import documents that misrepresented the cargo's origin and nature, a Reuters investigation has found.According to Reuters report, a December 2025 shipment of around 113,000 barrels of Iranian jet fuel was covered by a $15.8 million contract between Myanmar-based Dynamic Wave and Thailand's Tawan-Oil Trading that described the cargo as South African diesel. Myanmar's foreign exchange regulator also authorised documents identifying the shipment as diesel rather than jet fuel, the investigation found.The alleged deception comes as Washington seeks to restrict fuel supplies that could help Myanmar's military sustain airstrikes against civilians.
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