KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s top maritime enforcement official on Wednesday pushed back against accusations that authorities are ignoring a long-running scheme that allows Iran to circumvent U.S. sanctions by transferring oil from tanker to tanker near the nation’s southern coast.
Mohamad Rosli Abdullah, the director-general of the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA), said the transfers criticized by U.S.-based advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) often take place in areas deliberately chosen to exploit gaps between national jurisdictions.
“The selection of such locations is intended to exploit jurisdictional gaps and limit direct enforcement action by local authorities,” he told The Associated Press.
The Eastern Outer Port Limits, a stretch of the South China Sea about 45 miles (70 kilometers) off the state of Johor, sits roughly halfway between Iran and China. China buys about 90% of Iranian crude, according to shipping data and U.S. officials. The zone, which abuts Indonesian territorial waters, is outside Malaysia’s direct enforcement reach and outside the radar coverage that would normally alert authorities.
UANI says it has tracked 42 ship-to-ship transfers of Iranian oil in the Eastern Outer Port Limits since Feb. 28, the day the United States and Israel launched military strikes against Iran, touching off a war that continues to shake energy markets. The group relies on satellite imagery to follow the vessels, many of which disable their automatic identification systems and hide behind opaque ownership structures — the hallmarks of what analysts and governments call Iran’s “shadow fleet.”
“Because of Malaysia’s inaction, it is facilitating this business model by Iran and China and dark fleet actors,” UANI senior adviser Charlie Brown said, warning that Malaysia is becoming “a facilitator rather than merely a transit point” for illicit activity.
Abdullah rejected that characterization.
“The UANI allegations do not align with the actual situation on the ground and do not reflect the operational realities of maritime enforcement conducted by the MMEA,” he said, adding that a lack of real-time intelligence-sharing among domestic and international agencies further hampers enforcement.
Despite a U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports that began in mid-April, UANI says Iranian-linked tankers continue to operate near the transfer hub. As of Tuesday, two dozen such vessels were anchored or loitering in the area — though it was unclear how many had put to sea before the blockade began.
“It’s business as usual,” Brown told the AP.
Indonesia, which borders the transfer zone through the Riau Archipelago, said it is reviewing the situation to determine the legality of the ship-to-ship operations.
“Indonesia does not permit its territory or maritime zones to be used for unlawful activities,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Yvonne Mewengkang said. She added that Indonesia respects legitimate navigational rights under international law.
The MMEA director-general noted that Malaysia earlier this year seized two vessels — one stateless and another registered in Cameroon — that were caught transferring approximately 2 million barrels of crude in Malaysian territorial waters. The tankers were later released on bond for conducting unauthorized oil transfers. UANI’s Brown said one of the vessels was spotted earlier this month back in the area conducting another suspected Iranian oil transfer.
Abdullah said the MMEA would continue to strengthen monitoring and expand cooperation with other agencies.
The Iranian embassies in Kuala Lumpur and at the United Nations did not respond to requests for comment. The U.S. State Department declined to comment.