WASHINGTON—Amid signs that efforts to restore the 2015 Iranian nuclear deal have failed, the Biden administration, which is shifting to a tougher stance on Tehran, has announced that two Chinas that ship and store Iranian oil will continue to do so. It announced on Thursday that it would impose sanctions on companies.
The State Department said in a statement that the United States has targeted Zhonggu Storage and Transportation Co. Ltd., which operates a commercial crude storage facility for Iranian oil, and WS Shipping Co. Ltd., which manages the vessels. said. We have transported Iranian petroleum products.
The Treasury Department also said eight entities based in Hong Kong, Iran, India and the United Arab Emirates have been designated as sanctions violators.
The action comes as Biden administration officials fear that more than 18 months of negotiations to contain Iran’s nuclear program may have stalled, and have issued a new warning to the country’s hardline leaders. This suggests that the
Sanctions on Chinese companies could also portend a tense confrontation with Beijing over large purchases of Iranian oil that brought a much-needed windfall to Tehran, leading to the discontent of the Biden administration.
President Donald J. Trump pulled back from a 2015 deal signed by the Obama administration and imposed new sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to significantly accelerate its nuclear program. US officials estimate Iran could have enough highly enriched uranium to build a nuclear weapon within a month, but that production could take a year or more. .
The US and Iran appeared on the verge of restoring the nuclear deal after the European Union presented the “final text” of the joint deal this month. Biden officials say Iranian negotiators have raised obstacles within 11 hours, including demanding that the International Atomic Energy Agency close an investigation into Iran’s previously undeclared nuclear activities.
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During a visit to a UN rally, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi struck a belligerent tone and demanded more concessions from the United States.
As Iran struggles to punish U.S. sanctions after Trump unilaterally abandoned the nuclear deal in 2018, China is making Tehran less solvent by buying large amounts of its main export, oil. We help you maintain it.Reuters reported in March A tanker showing that China imports about 700,000 barrels a day, pointing out that China is importing more oil from Iran than before Trump imposed new sanctions on Tehran. It cited data from three tracking companies.
“China is largely responsible for keeping the Iranian regime in business through oil purchases totaling $38 billion since President Joe Biden took office,” said the nonprofit United Against a Nuclear Iran. report last week.
“Thus, China has proven itself to be Tehran’s savior by continuing to import millions of barrels of oil daily,” the group said, calling for tougher US action against Chinese entities.
A State Department spokesman said Wednesday that some public estimates of Iran’s oil trade with China are “inflated.”
Existing U.S. sanctions allow for penalties against foreign governments whose companies import oil from Iran, but the Biden administration has refrained from doing so against China.
Instead, the administration has spent months trying to persuade Beijing to block Chinese companies from facilitating Iranian oil exports, to little avail. He may have lost his patience, suggesting that unilateral measures will be strengthened.
In a statement, the State Department said it “continues to accelerate enforcement of sanctions against Iran’s oil and petrochemical sales under its authority” as Iran pursues its nuclear program in violation of restrictions in the 2015 agreement. I will.” .
“These enforcement actions will continue on a regular basis with the aim of severely restricting Iran’s oil and petrochemical exports,” the statement said. “Anyone involved in facilitating these illegal sales or transactions should immediately stop if they wish to evade U.S. sanctions.”
The United States announced sanctions against state-owned oil trading company Zhuhai Zhenrong in July 2019, when Mike Pompeo, then Secretary of State under Trump, announced sanctions against Iranian oil. For the first time, sanctions have been imposed on Chinese companies that violate purchase restrictions. , and its CEO is his Li Youmin.
After Washington imposed massive sanctions on Iran in 2018, the Trump administration gave eight governments, including China, the right to continue importing limited amounts of oil. However, these exemptions expired in May 2019.
Zhuhai Zhenrong and another state-owned company, Sinopec, were China’s largest importers of Iranian oil.
An August 2019 New York Times investigation found that China and other countries receive more shipments of oil from Iranian oil tankers than previously known. Even after the exemption expired that year, 12 Iranian tankers were still loading and delivering oil in Asia and the Mediterranean, with six of them unloading cargo at Chinese ports.
Last month, the State and Treasury Departments announced sanctions Six companies, including four based in Hong Kong, for helping sell tens of millions of dollars in Iranian petroleum and petrochemical products.
Edward Wong contributed to the report.