The sanctioned refinery in China’s Shandong province received dozens of shipments of crude oil from Iran worth more than $1 billion, the Trump administration said.
Officials also announced that several companies and vessels involved in the shipments were added to the sanctions list.
The new penalties were imposed by the Office of Foreign Assets Control and follow earlier efforts by the administration to disrupt the flow of Iranian oil, which authorities say is carried by Iran’s shadow fleet.” The United States has already penalized dozens of individuals and vessels involved in the shipments.
Any refinery, company, or broker that chooses to purchase Iranian oil or facilitate Iran’s oil trade places itself at serious risk, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a news release. “The United States is committed to disrupting all actors providing support to Iran’s oil supply chain, which the regime uses to support its terrorist proxies and partners.
Iran is accused of backing militant groups including Yemen’s Houthis, who have launched attacks on international shipping, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
During his confirmation hearing earlier this year, Bessent criticized the Biden administration’s sanctions policies and called for the U.S. to have a more muscular sanctions system, including on Iran and Russian entities and oil.
Tammy Bruce, a State Department spokeswoman, said in a statement that Trump is committed to drive Iran’s illicit oil exports, including to China, to zero.
As Long as Iran attempts to generate oil revenues to fund its destabilizing activities, the United States will hold both Iran and all its partners in sanctions evasion accountable, Bruce said.
