Iran is using oil terminals and storage tanks inside China to keep its sanctioned tankers moving despite U.S. restrictions, Iran International reported Sunday, citing a confidential document and sources in Iran's Oil Ministry.
The document is a confidential letter from Hamid Bovard, Iran's acting oil minister and former head of the National Iranian Oil Company, answering a letter in which Ali Shamkhani had told supreme leader Ali Khamenei that oil sales under President Masoud Pezeshkian were going badly. Shamkhani and Khamenei were both killed in U.S.-Israeli strikes on Feb. 28.
According to the report, Bovard wrote that Iran's Foreign Ministry negotiated with China to acquire port facilities and oil terminals, creating a hub for sanctioned Iranian crude. Tehran also took long-term leases on large storage facilities in several Chinese locations, so it can sell its crude directly in the Chinese market.
Two Oil Ministry sources told Iran International that Iran now controls port facilities at three locations: a terminal in the Ningbo-Zhoushan free trade zone and stakes in smaller docks at Qingdao and another port in Shandong province. The docks sit near pipelines, so Iranian oil can reach Chinese refineries without being moved to other ships. Iran has also bought seven large storage tanks, including at Dalian, Huizhou, Dongying and Weifang.
Under the arrangement, tankers owned by Hossein Shamkhani, Ali Shamkhani's son, carry Iranian oil to the China docks Tehran controls. The U.S. Treasury has sanctioned 51 vessels linked to him.
Iran International said the details come from the leaked letter and its sources; neither Tehran nor Beijing has commented on the report.
SOURCES
UPDATES
Nov 8 · 10:09 PM ET
Published.