Republican lawmakers urge sanctions over Iran oil sales to China

WASHINGTON — Concerned that Iranian oil sales continue to climb despite US sanctions, a group of Senate Republicans say the Biden administration could be doing more to curb Iran’s illicit energy exports, especially to China. 

In a letter sent Friday to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, a group of eight US senators urged the administration to develop a strategy to keep Iran’s petrochemical industry from "supporting the regime’s nefarious activities."

The letter led by Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Jim Risch, R-Idaho, urged the secretaries to impose further sanctions against Chinese individuals and entities that are involved in Iran’s oil and petrochemical trade. 

“Doing so will deprive the Iranian regime of critical revenues that they would use to harm US interests and repress the Iranian people,” the senators wrote. 

Iran’s crude oil exports in 2023 have risen to their highest levels since former President Donald Trump in 2018 abandoned the nuclear agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and reimposed economic sanctions on Iran. Last month, the Persian Gulf country pumped an estimated 3.01 million barrels per day of crude, which the Paris-based International Energy Agency said was a five-year high. 

Iranian Oil Minister Javad Owji boasted of his country's crude sales during an OPEC conference in Vienna last week, saying Iran's current daily capacity hovers around 3.8 million barrels of crude and gas condensates. 

Exports to China — by far Iran’s biggest purchaser of crude oil —  have helped keep the Iranian economy afloat after withdrawal from the nuclear deal closed off Iran’s ability to export oil to Europe, South Korea, Japan and other international customers.

US officials say Iran employs a range of evasion tactics to circumvent sanctions and conceal shipments bound for China, including a network of intermediaries and environmentally risky ship-to-ship transfers in open waters. On Wednesday, Indonesian authorities seized an Iran-flagged supertanker that was illegally transferring oil in its exclusive economic zone. 

In their letter, the Senate Republicans allege the Biden administration has been slow to enforce sanctions, creating a “cash windfall” that Iran has used to quash anti-government protests, finance proxy attacks abroad and provide armed drones to Russia for use in Ukraine.  

US officials insist they are keeping the pressure on Iran and point to multiple rounds of financial penalties over Iran's oil smuggling, the last of which in March 2023 targeted a network of front companies operating in Hong Kong, Singapore, and the United Arab Emirates. 

A State Department spokesperson said the US continues to “stringently enforce” sanctions against Iran, including those related to its petroleum and petrochemical trade.

"We have continued to discourage the [People's Republic of China] and other countries from taking steps vis-à-vis Iran that contravene US sanctions,” the spokesperson said. “The framework of US sanctions on Iran remains robust and continues to have a clear impact.”

Henry Rome, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, says the administration has “taken its foot off the gas” on oil sanctions. 

“There’s still quite a bit that Washington could do to complicate the sales and the movement of money,” Rome said. “I think it's a feature, not a bug, of a Plan C strategy to keep tensions low in the absence of an agreement.” 

More than two years after President Joe Biden came into office promising to restore the 2015 nuclear pact with Iran, the countries are said to now be considering a lesser, potentially unwritten, understanding to cool tensions. 

Robert Malley, who led US efforts to constrain Iran’s nuclear program and secure the release of American prisoners, was placed on unpaid leave by the State Department last month, pending a review of his security clearance. His deputy, Abram Paley, is currency serving as the the acting US special envoy for Iran.