Iran doubles profits from oil sales
According to calculations by the British weekly “The Economist”, Iran currently exports 2.4-2.8 million barrels of oil and petroleum products per day, including 1.5-1.8 million barrels of oil itself. This is a level similar to last year, but raw material prices are much higher.
As a result, the Tehran regime is earning twice as much per day as it did before the U.S.-Israeli airstrike campaign began in late February. This lucrative trade is increasingly controlled by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the regime’s elite military formation, and specifically its foreign arm, the Quds Brigades. The Economist estimates that they already control 25 percent. oil extraction.
Who supervises the trade in Iranian oil?
This result is supported by an extensive and decentralized raw material sales system. Formally, exports are carried out by the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC), but in practice the oil has been distributed among various state institutions.
Individual ministries, services and religious foundations receive allocations of barrels, which they then sell through their own networks of intermediaries. The entire system is supervised by about 20 influential oligarchs who turn the raw material into cash outside the official financial system.
People associated with this mechanism include the environment of Mojtaba Khamenei – the son of the supreme leader who died on the first day of the war – as well as people associated with the cleric Gholamhoseyn Mohseni-Eże’i. The family of the late Ali Shamkhani, whose son Hossein manages an extensive trade and transport network, also plays a significant role. According to Vortexa, IRGC-affiliated entities are responsible for most of the recent export growth. The son and son-in-law of Mohsen Rezaei, the former IRGC commander, also play an important role and are said to control a significant part of the sales.
Increased readiness of tankers. The raw material goes to China
The second element of the system is maritime logistics, which is also under the dominant control of the Revolutionary Guards. The IRGC oversees traffic in the Strait of Hormuz and much of the transportation infrastructure in the Persian Gulf. Transport is formally organized by private companies associated with the military, including: Sahand, Sahara Thunder, Pasargad or Admiral.
A single shipment of oil can be worth USD 150-200 million, which is why tankers are subject to special safety procedures. The island of Chark plays a key role, from which approximately 90% of the water flows under normal conditions. Iranian oil.
Currently, ships mooring at the most advanced quays are on high alert and can leave the port immediately in the event of an emergency. In parallel, alternative terminals are being developed in Jask, Lawan and Sirri, which are storing record supplies and – according to Richard Nephew, former US envoy for Iran – could take up to 25 percent. exports previously handled by Khark.
Tanker traffic is strictly controlled. Each unit receives an identification code approved by the IRGC Naval Command. Ships often pass through a narrow corridor along the Iranian coast where additional scrutiny is possible. Some of them – according to the industry daily “Lloyd’s List” – pay fees amounting to several million dollars.
To make it difficult to track Iranian shipments, tankers’ transponders are sometimes turned on only briefly, and the oil is often transhipped on the high seas off Malaysia and Singapore before being transferred to apparently neutral ships.
Over 90 percent Iranian oil is bought by one recipient – China. It goes to about a hundred smaller refineries in Shandong province in the eastern part of the country. Before the war, they could purchase Iranian Light crude oil at a discount of $18–24 to the Brent price. Currently, with limited supplies from other Gulf states, the discount has fallen to $7-12 per barrel. At the same time, futures prices rose to about $104 per barrel, about three-quarters higher than before the war.
Profits spread around the world
The final element of the Iranian system is financial settlements. Payments are made through one-time trust accounts opened in smaller banks in mainland China or Hong Kong, often in the name of shell companies. The funds are then transferred through an extensive network of subsequent accounts, making them difficult to trace.
According to sources cited by The Economist, even before the war, one of such structures managed funds of approximately USD 6-7 billion. Some of the money stays in Asia and is used to finance the import of goods Iran needs, while the rest goes to various countries – from Europe to Central Asia.
The complexity and dispersion of the entire mechanism make it difficult to paralyze even in war conditions. Iran suffers military losses, but at the same time maintains oil exports and increases revenues. As a result, the conflict, which was supposed to limit its financial possibilities, paradoxically strengthened its position on the energy market.
