Source: Amnesty International –
- Myanmar military relies on ghost fleet to import jet fuel, evidence points to Iran links
- 2025 is deadliest year on record for aerial attacks by military
- More aviation fuel imported in 2025 than in any year since military coup
Aviation fuel used by the Myanmar military to launch deadly air strikes on civilians continues to enter the country via a murky supply chain that has “gone rogue” five years after the junta seized power, a new investigation by Amnesty International has found.
Amnesty’s analysis of trade, shipping, satellite and port authority data indicates that the Myanmar military is adopting the reported sanction-evasion tactics of countries such as Russia, Iran and North Korea by importing jet fuel on “ghost ships” which turn off their location-tracking Automatic Identification System (AIS) radar to avoid detection.
Such methods make it virtually impossible to identify the supplier. However, Amnesty International has tracked multiple shipments of aviation fuel to Myanmar since July 2024 – including on two US-sanctioned vessels with a history of exporting fuel from Iran. According to Kpler, a commodity intelligence platform that tracks global flows of fuels and other commodities, all shipments on these two vessels are assumed to be from Iran, while satellite imagery reviewed by Amnesty International points to a likely Iran connection.
Significantly, Myanmar Port Authority data shows that at least 109,604 metric tonnes of aviation fuel were imported into Myanmar in 2025, a 69 percent increase from 2024 and the highest amount in any year since the coup – despite sanctions imposed to stop fuel reaching the country.
“Five years after the coup, our analysis shows that the Myanmar junta continues to evade sanctions and find new ways to import the jet fuel it uses to bomb its own civilians – with 2025 being the deadliest year on record for aerial attacks since the junta takeover in 2021,” said Montse Ferrer, Amnesty International’s Regional Research Director.
“As aviation fuel shipments into the country increase despite sanctions and the well-documented surge in aerial attacks against civilians, the international community must do more to stop companies and governments facilitating a supply chain that has increasingly gone rogue. Every day of inaction will cost more lives.”