By Costas Paris

Iran has abandoned intermediaries it used for decades to sell its oil after a number of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps officials who run "shadow fleet" operations were killed, according to Iranian state media. IRNA and the Tehran Times reported that the National Iranian oil company would resume sole authority of marketing Iranian crude.

The previous system relied on a network of so-called trustees, including oil traders in Russia and Dubai with direct links to senior IRGC officials whose job was to circumvent American and EU sanctions in order to maintain revenue flows to the Iranian regime.

Malaysian refinery officials told The Wall Street Journal they had lost contact with two IRGC officials who previously arranged ship-to-ship transfers of Iranian crude near the Strait of Malacca. The U.S. blockade of Iranian ports has all but stopped Iran-controlled or dark-fleet tankers moving Iranian oil to importers mainly China and India.

For more on "dark fleet" tankers:

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 15, 2026 10:56 ET (14:56 GMT)

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