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The United States has hit a Chinese refinery and multiple maritime shipping companies with sanctions after allegedly facilitating over $1 billion worth of Iranian oil exports.
Some shit you should know before you read: If you’re unaware, President Trump has reimposed his “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran, aggressively ramping up sanctions to cripple the country’s oil-dependent economy and force Iran to make a deal over its nuclear program. In recent months, the US has expanded its crackdown on Iran’s shadow oil fleet—an illicit maritime network used to secretly export sanctioned crude, often to China—by targeting both the vessels and the web of international enablers behind them. Just last week, we had an article about Jugwinder Singh Brar, a UAE-based individual sanctioned for reselling sanctioned Iranian oil on behalf of Iranian entities.
What’s going on now: In an announcement, the State Department and Treasury confirmed new sanctions on Shandong Shengxing Chemical Co., Ltd., a China-based independent “teapot” refinery, accusing the company of purchasing over $1 billion worth of Iranian crude oil through covert shipments involving Iran’s shadow fleet. According to US officials, the refinery conducted dozens of oil transactions between 2020 and 2023 using ship-to-ship transfers to mask the origin of the oil, routing it through a network of blacklisted tankers and intermediaries to evade detection.
In one case, the US government claimed that Shandong Shengxing had wired more than $800 million to China Oil and Petroleum Company Limited (COPC), a front company controlled by the IRGC-Qods Force, which has been designated as a terrorist organization by the US Treasury. These transactions allegedly financed Iran’s military operations, prompting the administration to escalate sanctions on all parties involved.
As described by the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), the operation involved a complex logistics chain of ships registered under foreign shell companies and flagged in countries like Panama, the Marshall Islands, and Malaysia. Several vessels—NYANTARA, RESTON, EGRET, BESTLA, and RANI—were identified as key carriers in the network, secretly transferring Iranian oil at sea and delivering it to Chinese refineries under falsified documentation. For example, in early 2025, the BESTLA received approximately two million barrels of Iranian oil via a ship-to-ship transfer from the sanctioned tanker ATILA, while the EGRET took on oil from the DUNE, a vessel linked to the National Iranian Tanker Company. Each of these tankers has now been sanctioned, alongside their operating firms, which include Oceanic Orbit Incorporated (Panama), Pro Mission SDN BHD (Malaysia), and Dexiang Shipping Co., Limited (Hong Kong).
A state Department spokeswoman warned that “any refinery, company, or broker that chooses to purchase Iranian oil or facilitate Iran’s oil trade places itself at serious risk.” No comment from China or Iran yet.
