The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned more than 50 individuals, entities and vessels involved in the export of Iranian energy.
“These actors have collectively enabled the export of billions of dollars’ worth of petroleum and petroleum products, providing critical revenue to the Iranian regime and its support for terrorist groups that threaten the United States,” Treasury said in a statement on Thursday.
Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control announced the sanctions, targeting a network it says is responsible for exporting hundreds of millions of dollars of liquefied petroleum gas, using almost two-dozen vessels. Two of the mainland Chinese companies listed in the new sanctions are responsible for receiving millions of dollars worth of Iranian crude.
Shandong Jincheng Petrochemical Group is a so-called “teapot” refinery—referring to China’s smaller, non-state-owned refineries that Treasury says have purchased millions of barrels of Iranian oil since 2023. Meanwhile, Rizhao Shihua Crude Oil Terminal received millions of barrels of oil from shadow fleet vessels.
JNS also learned that Treasury is placing an added focus on Chinese terminals, placing sanctions on a second facility this year. The terminals serve as the point at which illegal oil is ingested into the Chinese system, then circulated throughout their economy.
The sanctions serve as a signal to Chinese port operators, which are often heavily tied to the Western financial market, that Treasury is willing to severely disrupt their operations.
Iran’s illicit oil market has already been hurt by a combination of sanctions, a depreciated rial and an increased Brent spread—meaning the price of Brent crude oil is rising faster than West Texas Intermediate crude oil, widening the difference between the two benchmark prices. Ultimately, that means Tehran is having to work harder to sell its oil at a steeper discount.
That shadow fleet consists of 23 vessels that often change their registrations or names. The fleet spans the world, with sanctioned vessels registered in China, the Marshall Islands, India, Comoros, Hong Kong, Panama and Singapore.
JNS has learned that since January, when the new administration began in Washington, there has been a three-times increase in the number of vessels holding Iranian oil that are idle out at sea and unable to enter ports, due to Western sanctions that have put those vessels at risk.
Shipping firms in the Marshall Islands, India, Liberia, Hong Kong, Panama and the United Arab Emirates have also been hit with Thursday’s sanctions.
The Trump administration is taking aim at China-based refineries for the fourth time through its sanctions program, following similar actions in July and August, to target Iranian oil sales.
Since January, the Trump administration—as part of its “maximum pressure” campaign on the Islamic Republic—has issued 700 sanctions targeting Iran or Iran-linked actors, including vessels, front companies, oil traders, managers and operators.
JNS has learned that so-called “snapback” sanctions recently implemented on Iran as a result of noncompliance with the 2015 nuclear accord have not had much of an impact so far. However, the United States is leveraging those sanctions, which fall under the auspices of the United Nations, to emphasize to its counterparts that Washington’s campaign against Iran is no longer a unilateral concern.
