A few days before the highly anticipated bilateral summit in Beijing between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, the American administration strikes hard again at Tehran’s black gold routes. The United States Department of the Treasury announced Monday a new sanctions package against 12 individuals and entities accused of facilitating the smuggling of Iranian oil to China on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
This is the second massive financial offensive launched by Washington in less than three weeks. The White House’s goal is twofold: to suffocate Tehran’s coffers and to force Beijing itself – the main buyer of Iranian energy – to cooperate in unblocking the Strait of Hormuz and reopening negotiations on the nuclear program, which has long been in a state of complete deadlock.
The new measure strikes at the heart of a dense transnational logistics network composed of shell companies strategically located between Hong Kong, Dubai, Sharjah, and Oman. According to U.S. financial intelligence, this network coordinated the sale and maritime transport of crude oil cargoes worth tens of millions of dollars.
Among the entities hit are the companies Hong Kong Blue Ocean Limited and Hong Kong Sanmu Limited, deemed responsible for orchestrating the movements of the Iranian “shadow fleet” during 2025. In particular, the Treasury has targeted the supertankers Hai Long (formerly known as Gagan), Cangjie, and Hasna.
Also targeted are Ocean Allianz Shipping LLC, based in Dubai, and Atic Energy FZE, based in Sharjah, also deemed guilty of operating on behalf of the IRGC to facilitate Iranian oil shipments on five shadow fleet tankers sanctioned in 2025. The Zeus Logistics Group, based in Oman, also collaborated with the IRGC in 2025 to organize the vessels destined for transporting Iranian oil cargoes.
The list also includes Jiandi HK Limited, based in Hong Kong, which in mid-2025 struck a deal with the IRGC to purchase Iranian oil worth tens of millions of dollars, and Max Honor International Trade Co., Limited, which in the same year purchased millions of barrels of Iranian oil from the IRGC.
This move follows the heavy blow dealt last April 24, when the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned as many as 40 geopolitical targets, including the Hengli Petrochemical Refinery, an independent Chinese refining giant.
“As the Iranian military desperately tries to reorganize, Operation ‘Economic Fury’ will continue to deprive the regime of funding for its weapons programs, its terrorist allies, and its nuclear ambitions,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. “The Treasury will continue to cut off the Iranian regime from the financial networks it uses to carry out terrorist acts and destabilize the global economy.”
