The Trump administration is placing sanctions on a Chinese oil refinery and three port terminal operators for their roles in purchasing or facilitating the delivery of hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian oil, the U.S Treasury and State Departments announced on Thursday.
Hebei Xinhai Chemical Group, in the Shandong Province of China, is among small, independent (“teapot”) oil refineries, according to the Treasury Department. This is the third action the Trump administration has taken against such refineries, which “purchase the majority of Iranian crude oil exports,” added the Treasury.
The two departments also announced sanctions on several companies, vessels and captains operating as part of Iran’s “shadow fleet.”
“As part of President Trump’s broad and aggressive maximum pressure campaign, Treasury is targeting another teapot refinery that imported Iranian oil,” said Scott Bessent, the U.S. treasury secretary. “The United States remains resolved to intensify pressure on all elements of Iran’s oil supply chain to prevent the regime from generating revenue to further its destabilizing agenda.”
“So long as Iran attempts to generate oil revenues to fund its destabilizing activities, the United States will hold Iran and all its partners in sanctions evasion accountable,” the State Department said.