US slaps sanctions on dozens over links to Iran oil exports

The US Treasury announces sanctions on more than 50 people, companies and ships tied to Iran’s oil sector, stepping up its campaign against a key revenue source for Tehran.

The actions are aimed at people who help to facilitate Iran’s shipments of liquified petroleum gas, and include a Chinese port and a China-based “teapot” oil refinery, the Treasury Department announces.

The announcement comes a few weeks after the UN announced so-called snapback sanctions against Iran over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, deepening Tehran’s isolation on the world stage.

“The Treasury Department is degrading Iran’s cash flow by dismantling key elements of Iran’s energy export machine,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says in a statement.

Among those targeted is Shandong Jincheng Petrochemical Group Co., a China-based refinery that the Treasury Department said had purchased millions of barrels of Iranian oil since 2023.

The Treasury also hits the company which operates the Rizhao Shihua Crude Oil Terminal at Lanshan Port, accusing it of accepting more than a dozen shadow fleet vessels shipping millions of barrels of Iranian oil.

Today’s actions are the Treasury’s fourth set of sanctions targeting China-based refineries since US President Donald Trump’s return to office in January, according to the statement.

The move adds to the hundreds of people, firms, and ships punished for their links to Iran as part of the Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign.

The Treasury’s designation means that any “property and interests in property” held by the sanctions targets in the United States, or controlled by a US citizen, permanent resident or company, are now blocked and must be reported to the sanctions division.

Any companies owned directly or indirectly by one of the sanctioned individuals are also blocked, the Treasury says.