Why Iran’s Shadow Oil Fleet Is So Hard for Trump to Stop | WSJ (Level 1)

Off the coast of Malaysia, there is a secret group of ships. These old ships carry oil from Iran to China. The United States has strict rules against buying oil from Iran. To hide, these ships break the rules. They turn off their tracking computers. They also paint over their names to look like different ships. When they reach the ocean near Malaysia, they stop. They wait in international waters where local police cannot stop them. Then, they pump oil from one ship to another. This is very dangerous. If they make a mistake, oil can spill into the ocean. Even though the United States tries to stop this trade, the ships keep moving. Millions of barrels of oil still travel this way. Because of this, Iran still makes billions of dollars. As long as people want to buy the oil, these secret ships will keep sailing.