On November twenty fifth the Elva, a tanker flagged in São Tomé and Príncipe, clandestinely picked up 2m barrels of Iranian crude off Malaysia’s coast. Crusing from there to north-east China, the vessel’s possible vacation spot, often takes two weeks at most. However not this time. On December third, alleging the Elva had breached sanctions, America blacklisted the ship, exposing anybody coping with it to punishment. Six weeks on it’s nonetheless stranded lower than 20km from the place it collected its cargo.
