A Reuters investigation reveals how Iran succeeded in breaching the U.S. naval blockade and continuing to arm its missile arsenal even during the war!

Reuters published an extensive investigation revealing that Iran, despite Western sanctions and the U.S. naval blockade, managed to import military equipment and materials worth billions of dollars, used in the production of ballistic missiles and drones, through a secret network comprising more than 5,000 entities linked to the Iranian Ministry of Defense.

The most striking aspect of the investigation is that just one entity from this network, bearing the number MOD 346428, imported equipment and materials valued at $2.3 billion between January 2025 and June 2026. This included materials used in rocket fuel production, explosives, aircraft engine parts, precision industrial equipment, as well as 435 trucks from the European company Iveco—trucks that can be converted into mobile and camouflaged missile launch platforms.

But the real significance lies not in the volume of imports, but in the method Iran used to bypass the sanctions regime and the U.S. blockade. According to the investigation, this equipment reached Iranian territory via land, sea, and air routes from China, Russia, Germany, and other European countries, with import operations continuing even during the war itself, despite U.S. and Israeli strikes targeting Iranian military facilities.

Even more intriguing is that 97% of the shipments reviewed by Reuters were financially settled without cross-border currency transfers. Instead of wiring funds from Iranian banks abroad, this network relies on oil revenues already held outside the country and uses intermediary companies to purchase and ship the equipment to Iran—a tactic that makes tracking and disrupting these financial operations far more difficult.

This highlights a crucial point: Iran didn’t just succeed in maintaining its ability to import military equipment despite years of sanctions; it built a parallel trade and financial system that allows it to continue acquiring the materials needed for missile and drone production even under wartime and blockade conditions.

In other words, the United States can impose a naval blockade on Iran and target its factories and military facilities, but according to this investigation, it has failed to shut down all the supply channels that Iran’s military industries depend on.

This partly explains how Iran managed to keep replenishing some of its military losses and maintaining the supply lines essential for its missile industries, despite the military campaign and economic sanctions imposed on it.

The difference is vast between being able to destroy a missile factory and being able to dismantle the economic and industrial system that enables it to restart and produce new missiles.