The Treasury Department on Thursday slapped sanctions on several Chinese companies and other elements the department said are involved in buying millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian oil.
The sanctions were imposed on China’s Hebei Xinhai Chemical Group Co., described as a “teapot refinery,” and three port terminal operators in Shandong province.
Others sanctioned included vessels and their captains believed to be part of an Iranian “shadow fleet” used to covertly sell oil in circumventing international sanctions.
“As part of President Trump’s broad and aggressive maximum pressure campaign, Treasury today is targeting another teapot refinery that imported Iranian oil,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.
It was the third action against a Chinese refinery in Shandong province and the first against port operators. In total, seven Chinese companies and six oil ships have been hit with the sanctions.
The Chinese companies were sanctioned for supporting the state-owned National Iranian Oil Co. which funds Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force, which was designated a supporter of terrorism in 2020.
“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,” Mr. Bessent said.
The latest steps are part of more than a dozen actions taken by the Trump administration against 235 people, companies and vessels to limit Iran’s raising cash from oil sales.
The sanctions were imposed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control as part of the Trump administration’s policy of increasing pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program.
The policy was outlined in a Feb. 4 presidential directive calling for imposing “maximum pressure” on Iran to deny it a path to building nuclear weapons and as a result of Iran’s support for terrorism.
The Chinese refinery has purchased large shipments of crude oil worth hundreds of millions of dollars from Iranian shadow fleets, including some sanctioned in the past, the Treasury statement said.
Hebei Xinhai in the past bought oil from the Iranian military and is linked to a Singapore-based oil broker, Xing AO Energy PTE. Ltd.
OFAC is also adding Xing AO Energy PTE. LTD. to the List of Specially Designated Nationals and Blocked Persons for being owned in the aggregate, directly or indirectly, 50% or more by Hebei Xinhai.
The three port firms were used to handle several shipments of Iranian oil from shadow fleet vessels since 2024, including two that Treasury said received more than a million barrels of oil.
In targeting the Iranian shadow fleet of oil freighters, Treasury said the fleet relies on ship management firms to covertly transport oil to China, including ship-to-ship transfers.
Three Caribbean nation-flagged ships “have shipped billions of dollars’ worth of Iranian petroleum to China and to the Persian Gulf,” the statement said.
One Chinese ship, the Tai He, received 8 million barrels of Iranian oil for China.
Other multi-million barrel shipments were sent through ships owned by Hong Kong companies.
Two Indian nationals, Ketan Agarwal and Lincoln Francisco Viegas, were sanctioned for their role as captains on two sanctioned vessels linked to Iran-China oil transfers, the statement said.
The sanctions place all the entities on a blacklist requiring blocking all property of the designated entities and prohibit financial transactions that can curb future sales.
