US sanctions Chinese "teapot" refinery fueling Iranian blood money

The US Treasury Department announced today (Wednesday) that it is sanctioning a Chinese independent "teapot" refinery responsible for processing about a billion dollars of sanctioned Iranian oil, as part of an effort to clamp down on Iran's efforts to bypass US sanctions.

According to an official statement by the Treasury Department, "the Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is designating a China-based independent “teapot” refinery Shandong Shengxing Chemical Co., Ltd. for its role in purchasing more than a billion dollars’ worth of Iranian crude oil, including from a front company for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Qods Force (IRGC-QF).  OFAC is also imposing additional sanctions on several companies and vessels responsible for facilitating Iranian oil shipments to China as part of Iran’s “shadow fleet.”"

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that “Any refinery, company, or broker that chooses to purchase Iranian oil or facilitate Iran’s oil trade places itself at serious risk,” said Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent.  “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.”

The sanctions are part of a general effort by the Trump administration to apply "maximum pressure" to the Iranian regime to force it into a deal in which it gives up its nuclear program and rolls back its hostile activity in the region more generally. These sanctions include all levels of the covert Iranian oil network, from its covert "shadow fleet" to the private "teapot" oil refineries in China.