Katherine Wells, Andie Parry, Carolyn Moorman, Alexandra Braverman, Siddhant Kishore, Ria Reddy, Ben Rezaei, Rose Goldstein, Parker Hempel, and Nicholas Carl

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Iran and China continue to cooperate to circumvent US sanctions. At least eight tankers have participated in ship-to-ship transfers to move Iranian oil to China in recent weeks. These transfers reflect the “dark fleet” of vessels that Iran uses to move oil through Malaysian waters to China. Iran was reportedly holding around 16.82 million barrels of oil in floating storage facilities in December 2024, with two-thirds of these barrels based off the eastern Malaysian coast. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian met with the Malaysian foreign minister in Tehran on February 25. Iran depends heavily on revenues from energy sales to support its economy. China continues to import Iranian oil because of its cheap cost, despite China signaling that it is adhering to US sanctions by banning sanctioned tankers from Shandong Province ports. China wants low energy costs to maintain competitiveness in its manufacturing industry.

Lebanese airport authorities seized 2.5 million US dollars in cash on February 28 that a man attempted to smuggle from Turkey to Lebanon for Hezbollah, likely on Iran’s behalf. This incident follows an uptick in Iranian money smuggling efforts to Hezbollah via air routes in recent months. Israel reported in January 2025 that Turkish citizens have been involved in efforts to smuggle cash from Istanbul to Beirut for Hezbollah. Lebanon reportedly indefinitely suspended landing rights for Iranian airlines flying to Beirut on February 13. Commercially available flight tracking data revealed only two instances of Iranian flights landing in Beirut since February 11. The suspension of Iranian landing rights to Lebanon could explain why Iran may now rely on money smuggling routes from Turkey.

Key Takeaways:

• Iran: Iran and China continue to cooperate to circumvent US sanctions. At least eight tankers have participated in ship-to-ship transfers to move Iranian oil to China in recent weeks.

• Lebanon: Lebanese airport authorities seized 2.5 million US dollars in cash that a man tried to smuggle from Turkey to Lebanon for Hezbollah, likely on Iran’s behalf.

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