The United States has sanctioned a Chinese refinery that imported Iranian crude oil.
On the 20th (local time), the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) announced that it had placed the Chinese refinery Luqing Petrochemical, located in Shandong Province, and its CEO on the sanctions list.
The refinery imported approximately $500 million worth of Iranian crude oil, and during this process, it also used sanctioned oil tankers linked to Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi rebels and the Iranian Ministry of Defense, the Treasury Department explained.
Iran operates a "shadow fleet" of vessels disguised under different nationalities to evade U.S. sanctions and export crude oil; the Treasury also sanctioned eight such ships.
On the same day, the U.S. Department of State sanctioned a Chinese oil terminal that purchased and stored Iranian crude oil. The State Department stated that these sanctions were part of President Trump's "maximum pressure campaign" aimed at completely blocking Iran's crude oil exports. The Department explained that China is the largest importer of Iranian crude oil and that the Iranian regime funds attacks on U.S. allies and sponsors terrorism worldwide through revenues from oil exports.
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