US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent was scheduled to hold a press conference on Monday night as Washington continued to tighten pressure on Iran’s oil trade with China.
China’s imports of Iranian crude averaged around 1.4 million barrels per day (bpd) last year, according to ship-tracking firm Kpler. However, shipments have declined amid renewed US efforts to disrupt Iran’s oil exports.
The United States renewed its blockade of Iranian ships and ports on July 13 after a deal aimed at ending the conflict collapsed, further restricting Tehran’s oil sales. Kpler data showed no visible crossings of the Strait of Hormuz since then, although tracking remains difficult because many vessels switch off their location transponders.
Iranian oil shipments to China fell to 785,000 bpd in June, their lowest level since February 2023. They are estimated to have increased slightly to 823,000 bpd in July, but provisional data indicates that imports dropped to 534,000 bpd in August so far.
Chinese independent refineries have traditionally been the main buyers of Iranian crude, attracted by significant discounts compared with other international oil supplies.
China’s major state-owned refiners, meanwhile, have avoided Iranian crude since Washington reimposed sanctions on Tehran in 2019. Official Chinese customs data also does not record imports of Iranian crude.
Iranian oil shipped to China has frequently been relabelled as crude originating from Malaysia and, more recently, Indonesia. Sources familiar with the trade said transactions are generally settled in Chinese currency and involve a complex network of intermediaries, traders and refineries that makes the shipments difficult to trace.
Washington has stepped up efforts to restrict China’s purchases of Iranian oil since President Donald Trump returned to the White House last year. The US has imposed sanctions on several smaller Chinese refineries and other entities involved in the supply chain, disrupting some transactions.
The US Treasury has also warned two major Chinese banks that they could face secondary sanctions if Iranian funds are found to have passed through their financial systems, although neither bank has been sanctioned so far.
In April, Washington sanctioned Hengli Petrochemical’s Dalian refinery along with around 40 shipping companies and vessels, accusing the refinery of purchasing billions of dollars worth of Iranian oil. Hengli has denied the allegations.
Despite the sanctions, Iran’s overall oil shipments to China have remained substantial. Kpler data showed Chinese imports of Iranian crude at 1.24 million bpd in January and 1.58 million bpd in February.
China has rejected unilateral sanctions imposed on Iran and called for the dispute to be resolved through diplomatic and political means.
