Iran moved approximately 70 million barrels of crude worth $5–6 billion during the temporary halt of the US naval blockade between mid-June and mid-July, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal widely cited by international media. This rapid export surge, confirmed by satellite tracking and analysis from advocacy groups like United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), allowed Tehran to amass a financial reserve before Washington reimposed restrictions on vessels sailing to or from Iranian ports on 14 July.

The shipments followed a memorandum signed on 18 June, which sidelined a US-led military blockade and saw tankers laden with crude from Iran’s Chabahar port sail toward the Eastern Outer Port Limits off Malaysia’s east coast. There, in an area outside territorial waters, Iranian tankers like the Diona and Stream transferred their cargo to other ships via large hoses—a well-established sanctions-evasion tactic that obscures the oil’s origin. Analysts in Singapore tracking the flows say the ultimate destination is private Chinese “teapot” refineries, which buy the discounted crude.

For Tehran, the revenue relieves acute pressure on an economy described as being “in its worst shape since the revolution,” as one Middle East expert at the Atlantic Council put it. Viewed from Washington, the truce was an opportunity for a comprehensive deal, but officials now contend Iran used it to fortify its finances while the military standoff resumed after 8 July, when US strikes hit Iranian missile sites and Iran retaliated with attacks on American bases in the Gulf. The temporary window has left Iran’s financial position less strained than it would have been otherwise, blunting the immediate economic impact of the renewed blockade.

Although the US reimposed its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, roughly two dozen Iranian tankers had already passed into Asian waters by the time restrictions returned, meaning billions of dollars in oil revenue will flow to Tehran in the coming months. The episode underscores the difficulty of economic coercion when a targeted state can exploit a brief relaxation to export a strategic commodity. Ship-tracking data and continued monitoring of teapot refinery purchases will indicate how much of this surge ultimately reaches Chinese buyers and whether Iran can sustain any export flow in the face of renewed military pressure.