U.S. officials act to block illicit Iranian oil trade with China
The Department of State and Department of Treasury on Thursday announced sanctions against China, India and an Iranian minister and identified three vessels that now are blocked to stop the illegal flow of oil from Iran to Asia.
"The Iranian regime continues to use the proceeds from the nation's vast oil resources to advance its narrow, alarming self-interests at the expense of the Iranian people," Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday in a press release.
"Treasury will fight and disrupt any attempts by the regime to fund its destabilizing activities and further its dangerous agenda," Bessent said.
Bessent announced sanctions against China, India and Iran's Minister of Petroleum Mohsen Paknejad, who Bessent says oversees the export of tens of billions of dollars worth of Iranian oil and allocated billions of dollars worth of oil to Iran's military forces for eventual export.
China and India also are sanctioned due to their ownership and operations of vessels that deliver the illicit Iranian oil to Chinese ports or lifted oil from storage facilities in Dalian, China.
The sanctions are intended to halt the flow of oil from Iran to China and reduce funding for the Iranian military, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Iranian Law Enforcement Forces that oppress the Iranian people, Bessent said.
Iran allocates 200,000 barrels of crude oil to its armed forces every day to supplement their budget, according to the Treasury Department.
The funds from the illicit trade of Iranian oil also support the activities of the designated foreign terrorists organizations of Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.
"The Iranian regime continues to fuel conflict in the Middle East, advance its nuclear program and support its terrorists proxies," the U.S. Department of State says in a fact sheet published Thursday.
"Iran's illicit oil trade fuels these destabilizing activities," the fact sheet says.
Iran uses a network of shipping providers in several global jurisdictions that use ghost ships, deception and obfuscation to load and transport Iranian oil for eventual sale in China and other Asian nations, according to the State Department.
Iranian entities involved include the nation's Ministry of Petroleum, National Iranian Oil Company and National Iranian Tanker Company, which rely on ship-to-ship transfers of oil to third-country service providers to transport Iranian oil to Asian markets, State Department officials say.
"These [ship-to-ship] transfers, frequently conducted while one or more vessels have disabled or manipulated their automatic identification system, also serve to disguise the Iranian origin of the cargo," the State Department fact sheet states.
The ship-to-ship transfers occur outside of ports in Southeast Asia, which enables Iran to hide its illicit oil trade, according to the State Department.
Officials for the State and Treasury departments sanctioned Iran's Minister of Petroleum Mohsen Paknejad and several shipping entities that are enabling Iran's illicit oil trade.
The three sanctioned shipping entities are Bintang Samudra Utama, which is headquartered in Central Jakarta, Indonesia; Shipload Maritime Pte Limited, which is based in Singapore; and Gianira Adhinusa Senatama, which is based in Batam, Riau Islands, Indonesia.
The three vessels identified as blocked are the Celebes, Malili and Marina Vision, which enable the crude oil tankers Star Forest, which is registered in Hong Kong, and the Iranian-flagged Sobar to transfer Iranian oil for delivery to China.
Thursday's actions by the Treasury and State departments are in line with other sanctions announced on Feb. 24 to curtail the illicit sale of Iranian oil to China and to cut off funding for Iran's terror proxies.
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