Myanmar paperwork changed Iranian jet fuel to diesel

Myanmar’s foreign exchange regulator instructed a company to issue import documents listing a fuel delivery as diesel instead of jet fuel, according to a letter dated November 30. The correspondence, obtained by the activist group Justice for Myanmar, provided no explanation for the label change. It also authorized the companies involved to process the payment for the shipment.

The fuel arrived in December 2025 on a vessel named Reef. The tanker carried approximately 113,000 barrels of jet fuel from Iran. The contract for the shipment, however, described the cargo as South African diesel. Dynamic Wave, a Myanmar-based energy broker, signed a $15.8 million agreement with Thailand’s Tawan-Oil Trading for this delivery. The vessel Reef is under US sanctions.

Shipping data from United Nations and Vortexa records show no trade of South African diesel to Myanmar in 2025. Satellite analysis by SynMax Intelligence tracked the Reef from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas to Southeast Asia. This path contradicted the paperwork that described the origin as South Africa.

The mislabeling appears designed to avoid targeted US sanctions imposed in 2023 on Myanmar’s jet fuel industry. Washington cited the military’s bombing of civilian targets as the reason for the measures. Broad American sanctions also apply to those buying Iranian oil. The client of Dynamic Wave, National Energy Prime Aviation Services Company, is part-owned by Myanmar’s military-backed government.

This was not the first time these companies used this method. In May 2025, Dynamic Wave agreed to buy 202,000 barrels of fuel from Tawan for $26 million. The invoice described the cargo as South African diesel. Joshua Heyne, a jet fuel expert at Washington State University, noted that the fuel density in the invoice matched jet fuel. He also stated the price was more than 50% above the global diesel benchmark. A tanker named Noble delivered just under 200,000 barrels to Yangon on June 17, 2025. SynMax said the ship loaded in Bandar Abbas and signaled a route toward Chittagong, Bangladesh.

The contract for the December shipment directed payment to Tawan’s account at Siam Commercial Bank. A 2024 UN report named Tawan as a supplier to Myanmar’s military and described the bank as a key facilitator of military procurement. The bank states it follows anti-money-laundering laws and that its Myanmar-related transactions were legitimate. Reuters could not determine if the bank knew Tawan sold jet fuel.

Justice for Myanmar said it obtained the documents from a junta-run server that was briefly accessible to the public. Reuters found a dead link to one of the files in search engine results. The delivery dates and quantities in the documents match Iranian shipment records reviewed separately. Myanmar’s foreign ministry said the military exercises maximum restraint to avoid civilian harm, a response to a UN report in August that said the military had killed thousands in air attacks.

Reuters reported in January that Iran was the military’s main jet fuel supplier between October 2024 and December 2025. The agency also reported in October that shipments continued this year. 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.