US sanctions China oil refiner, shipping companies for covert business with Iran
Move is second case of US sanctions on Chinese ‘teapot’ refinery in less than a month, and takes place amid Washington’s denuclearisation talks with Iran.
The United States has imposed sanctions on a Chinese refinery and several shipping companies and vessels for allegedly orchestrating Iranian oil exports on Monday, the latest move to crackdown Iran’s energy-dominated economy under US President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” drive.
US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated Shandong Shenxing Chemical Co Ltd, an independent “teapot” refinery, for purchasing over US$1 billion worth of Iranian crude, according to an OFAC statement. It was the second such move against a Chinese refinery in weeks.
Shandong Shenxing has received dozens of shipments of Iranian crude oil worth “more than a billion dollars from shadow fleet vessels”, including two – Nyantara and Reston – owned by Panamanian companies, which were also sanctioned on Wednesday, according to the announcement.
These vessels and others, it said, use ship-to-ship transfers “to obfuscate Iran’s petroleum deliveries to China”.
China Oil and Petroleum Company Limited, which OFAC said is controlled by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force, allegedly received over US$800 million from the refiner from 2020 to 2023.
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The Iranian military unit has been labelled a terrorist organisation by the US State Department. Washington has previously seized US$108 million linked to COPC, the statement said.