US sanctions China-based operator, others over alleged Iran oil trade links

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State Department targets Qingdao Haiye Oil Terminal for allegedly importing ‘tens of millions of barrels of sanctioned Iranian crude oil’

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Dewey Simin WashingtonPublished: 3:08am, 2 May 2026Updated: 5:08am, 2 May 2026The United States on Friday announced fresh sanctions on entities and individuals it said were involved in trading Iranian petroleum, including a China-based oil terminal operator and a Chinese national, as it ramped up pressure on Tehran to end the conflict.The State Department said the operator, Qingdao Haiye Oil Terminal Co., Ltd, “imported tens of millions of barrels of sanctioned Iranian crude oil”.

Also on the sanctions list are Li Xinchun, a Chinese national who is the president of a China-based oil terminal, a Hong Kong-based vessel management company, and a British-based commercial manager.

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Under the sanctions, all US-held assets of the designated entities are frozen, and Americans are barred from doing business with them.

“The United States is taking decisive action to disrupt Iran’s illicit oil trade, the Iranian regime’s primary revenue streams that fund terrorism and regional destabilisation,” the State Department statement said.

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“So long as Iran attempts to generate oil revenues to fund its destabilising activities, the United States will hold both Iran and all its sanctions-evading partners accountable.”

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