Myanmar regulators approved fake diesel paperwork for Iranian jet fuel

Myanmar government officials signed documents labeling Iranian jet fuel as diesel to bypass US sanctions. A tanker named Reef arrived in Myanmar waters in December 2025 with contracts that described the cargo as South African diesel. The vessel actually carried 113,000 barrels of jet fuel from Iran.

The shipment was ordered by Dynamic Wave, a local energy broker. It signed a $15.8 million contract with Thailand’s Tawan-Oil Trading. United Nations data shows no trade between South Africa and Myanmar in 2025. Satellite tracking confirmed Reef traveled from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas to Southeast Asia.

US sanctions targeted Myanmar’s jet fuel industry in 2023. The measure followed the military’s bombing of civilian targets during the civil war. Buying Iranian fuel also triggers broad American penalties. A letter from Myanmar’s foreign exchange regulator on November 30 authorized import papers describing the delivery as diesel. The document instructed that the fuel be listed as diesel instead of jet fuel. It allowed National Energy Prime Aviation Services Company to pay Tawan. The aviation firm is partly owned by the military-backed government.

The activist group Justice for Myanmar provided the letter to Reuters. The group said it obtained the file from a junta-run server that was briefly public. A dead link in search results supports the claim that the file was hosted there. Delivery dates and quantities in the documents match Iranian shipment records.

Payments for the cargo went to Tawan’s account at Siam Commercial Bank. A 2024 UN report named Tawan as a supplier to Myanmar’s military. The same report described the bank as a key facilitator of military procurement. The bank says its transactions were legitimate and separate from the arms trade. Reuters could not confirm if the bank knew Tawan’s specific business.

This was not the first disguised shipment. In May 2025, Dynamic Wave agreed to buy 202,000 barrels of supposed South African diesel for $26 million. Fuel density data indicated the cargo was jet fuel. The price exceeded the global diesel benchmark by more than 50 percent. The tanker Noble delivered just under 200,000 barrels to Yangon on June 17. It loaded in Bandar Abbas and broadcast signals indicating a route through Bangladesh.

The military seized power in 2021, starting a civil war. The UN reported in August that the military has killed thousands in air attacks. Myanmar’s foreign ministry stated the military exercises maximum restraint to avoid civilian harm. Iran remains the main jet fuel supplier for the military between October 2024 and December 2025. The fuel supports commercial flights and air raids. Dynamic Wave, its client, Tawan, the bank, Thai and Myanmar authorities, Iran’s foreign ministry, and the US Treasury did not respond to requests for comment.