Tankers sail into troubled waters
Image showing the damage done by limpet mines to the hull of Iranian vessel MV Sabiti in October 2019. (Photo: National Iranian Tanker Company)
How might Iran toughen its oil and shipping vessels in response to sabotage?
For the Islamic Republic of Iran, exporting its glut of oil is becoming an ever more perilous task. When the US imposed fresh restrictions on Iranian petroleum exports in 2018, Tehran sought to cover its tracks through a thicket of bureaucracy.
Tankers loaded in Iranian depots often transferred their supplies at sea to smaller, foreign vessels to muddy their origins. When a tanker draped with a Panamanian flag (but laden with Iranian crude) was seized in Indonesia this January, it held links to a vast network of murky companies spanning China, Singapore and the Marshall Islands.
Recent incidents indicate that
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