By Enyichukwu Enemanna
US President, Donald Trump has slammed economic sanctions on a major China-based oil refinery and nearly 40 shipping companies and tankers involved in transporting Iranian oil.
The move, announced Friday makes good Trump’s threat to impose secondary sanctions on companies and countries that do business with Iran.
It’s also part of his Republican administration’s overall ramped-up campaign to cut off Iran’s key source of revenue, particularly its oil exports.
Concurrently, the U.S. this month imposed a physical blockade on the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf waterway that is crucial to global energy supplies.
The sanctions, which cut off the companies from the U.S. financial system and penalize anyone who does business with them, come just a few weeks before President Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping are due to meet in China.
Included in Friday’s sanctions is Hengli Petrochemical’s facility in the port city of Dalian, which has a processing capacity of roughly 400,000 barrels of crude oil per day, making it one of the biggest independent refineries in China.
The Treasury Department says Hengli has received Iranian crude oil shipments since 2023 and has generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue for the Iranian military.
The advocacy group United Against Nuclear Iran said in February 2025 that Hengli is one of dozens of Chinese purchasers of Iranian oil.
China is the biggest buyer of Iranian oil, importing 80% to 90% of Iranian oil before the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran broke out,
Iran has previously said that its demands for ending the war include the lifting of sanctions.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Friday that his agency “will continue to constrict the network of vessels, intermediaries and buyers Iran relies on to move its oil to global markets.”
