by WorldTribune Staff, December 16, 2025 Real World News
The U.S. House Select Committee on China has exposed an illicit China-Iran-Venezuela network which the committee said is “directly fueling drug dealers and terrorists.”
“China is the indispensable buyer, logistics hub for sanctioned Iranian & Venezuelan oil,” the committee’s chairman, Rep. John Moolenaar, Michigan Republican, said in a Dec. 12 letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
consistent with a ship-to-ship transfer. (Planet Labs PBC)
The letter notes that, on Dec 10, “U.S. Coast Guard, United States Marine Corps, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and U.S. Department of Homeland Security executed a bold at-sea seizure of the dark-fleet tanker SKIPPER (IMO 9304667) off Venezuela.
“Previously sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury in 2022 for smuggling oil tied to Hizbullah & IRGC, it has moved ~13M barrels of illicit crude since 2021.”
The real story is what happened before the seizure, the letter states:
“In early 2025, SKIPPER loaded ~2M barrels of sanctioned Iranian crude and sailed to the South China Sea — before it ever returned to Venezuelan waters in November.
“Using vessel-tracking data from Starboard Maritime Intelligence, the Select Committee found SKIPPER conducted two extended, low-speed ship-to-ship encounters with Chinese-managed tanker LUOIS from Aug. 12–14, lingering together for 50+ hours in low-traffic waters.”
The committee provided satellite imagery from Aug. 13 confirming the vessels side by side.
right, satellite imagery confirms SKIPPER (the right-hand vessel) was actually moored at Venezuela’s José Terminal at that
same time. / Starboard Maritime Intelligence; Planet Labs PBC
It was “classic dark-fleet behavior,” the letter states.
“After the handoff, LUOIS briefly entered Hong Kong waters on Aug. 15, then sailed north—making repeated port calls at Qingdao, Dongjiakou, and nearby terminals—before delivering the illicit Iranian cargo to a refinery in Yantai between Aug. 31 and Sept. 2.”
The letter cotinues: “Outlaw oil has a home—and it’s China.”
Moolenaar is urging the Treasury Department to immediately sanction: LUOIS, the Qingdao Ocean Kimo Ship Management Co. Ltd., and ship owner Fung Nam Ltd. (Hong Kong).
While one tanker was seized, the committee said “hundreds more” are still running “almost all reliant on Chinese ports, companies, and refineries. Iran and Venezuela evade sanctions with help from China.”
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