The US has announced sanctions against more than 30 individuals and vessels allegedly linked to the sale and transport of Iranian oil products to buyers in Asia, particularly China.<\/p>\n
The organizations targeted by the Treasury Department on Monday include Hong Kong-based oil broker Petronix Energy Trading, China-based tanker operator Nycity Shipmanagement, and India-based tanker technical manager Flux Maritime.<\/p>\n
Petronix Energy Trading “purchased hundreds of thousands of metric tonnes of Iranian oil” from an arm of National Iranian Oil Co. for shipment to China, the ministry said.<\/p>\n
Nycity Shipmanagement manages and operates the Panama-flagged crude oil tanker Urgane I, which the ministry said handles ship-to-ship transfers of Iranian Pars crude and has made numerous shipments to China.<\/p>\n
Flux Maritime “acted as the technical manager of a vessel that loaded hundreds of thousands of barrels of heavy Iranian crude oil through ship-to-ship transfer,” the ministry said, without specifying the destination.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the State Department identified eight entities based in India, Malaysia, the Seychelles, and the United Arab Emirates for their alleged involvement in the sale, purchase, and transport of Iranian oil. It also identified eight ships as blocked property in which they have interests.<\/p>\n
“This network of illegal transport facilitators conceals and deceives its role in loading and transporting Iranian oil for sale to buyers in Asia,” the ministry said in a statement on Monday.<\/p>\n
The State Department said this action was the “first step” to realize President Donald Trump’s campaign of maximum pressure on the Iranian government. “It disrupts Iran’s efforts to obtain oil revenues to finance terrorist activities,” it said.<\/p>\n
Trump has identified China’s oil purchases as a major supporter of Iran’s activities in the Middle East, such as supporting Hamas and Hezbollah.<\/p>\n
Mike Waltz, now Trump’s national security adviser, told CNBC<\/em> shortly after the November election that the administration would engage China to reduce its purchases of Iranian oil. “China buys 90% of Iran’s illicit oil,” Waltz said, adding, “I think we will have some discussions with China about these purchases.”<\/p>\n A Congressional Research Service report on Iran’s oil exports states that Iran’s oil and petrochemical sales to China could reach up to $70 billion in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The US has announced sanctions against more than 30 individuals and vessels allegedly linked to the sale and transport of Iranian oil products to buyers in Asia, particularly China. The organizations targeted by the Treasury Department on Monday include Hong Kong-based oil broker Petronix Energy Trading, China-based tanker operator Nycity Shipmanagement, and India-based tanker technical […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8071,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[175],"tags":[7183,7170,7180,319,7173,7177,7178,7174,7175,7169,5373,7181,7172,7182,7171,7179,6014,7176,2801,682],"class_list":["post-8070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diplomacy","tag-asia-oil-buyers","tag-china-oil-imports","tag-congressional-research-service","tag-donald-trump","tag-flux-maritime","tag-hamas-support","tag-hezbollah-support","tag-illegal-oil-transport","tag-iran-oil-revenue","tag-iranian-oil","tag-maximum-pressure-campaign","tag-middle-east-politics","tag-nycity-shipmanagement","tag-oil-trade-sanctions","tag-petronix-energy-trading","tag-ship-to-ship-transfer","tag-state-department","tag-terrorist-financing","tag-treasury-department","tag-us-sanctions"],"yoast_head":"\n