U.S. Targets Major Chinese Refinery and Ships in Escalating Crackdown on Iran’s Oil Trade

Mike Schuler April 24, 2026

The Trump administration on Friday escalated its “Economic Fury” campaign against Tehran, targeting one of China’s largest independent refineries alongside a new wave of sanctions on vessels and shipping firms accused of moving Iranian oil through the shadow fleet.

The U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Refinery Co., described by Treasury as China’s second-largest “teapot” refinery and one of the largest buyers of Iranian crude, while also blacklisting 19 vessels and 18 shipping-related entities tied to Iran’s petroleum trade.

While OFAC has previously sanctioned four Chinese teapot refiners as part of President Trump’s maximum pressure campaign against Iran, the move against Hengli signals a potentially sharper turn in U.S. pressure strategy, shifting from targeting the ships and intermediaries that move Iranian crude toward the major overseas buyers helping sustain demand.

“Treasury will continue to constrict the network of vessels, intermediaries, and buyers Iran relies on to move its oil to global markets,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement.

The sanctions package suggests Washington is attempting to tighten pressure not just on transport routes, but on the commercial entities underpinning Iranian exports.

Previous rounds of “Economic Fury” sanctions largely focused on tankers, ship managers, traders and facilitators tied to Iran’s shadow fleet. Friday’s action reaches further up the value chain, targeting a major refining buyer Treasury says has purchased billions of dollars in Iranian crude and petroleum products.

Treasury alleged Hengli has received cargoes from multiple sanctioned tankers and purchased oil linked to Sepehr Energy, described by U.S. authorities as associated with Iran’s Armed Forces General Staff.

Alongside Hengli, OFAC designated 19 tankers accused of transporting billions of dollars’ worth of Iranian crude, LPG and petrochemical cargoes, including vessels allegedly delivering cargoes into China, the UAE and Bangladesh.

Among those targeted were the tankers SEEKER 8, COVENIO, GOLDEN SUNRISE, ZHEN ZHU and MAGNOLIA, part of what Treasury called a network sustaining “the lifeblood” of Iran’s economy.

The package also sanctioned shipping companies tied to Hong Kong, the Marshall Islands, Panama, the UAE and elsewhere, underscoring the multinational ownership and flag structures often associated with shadow fleet trading.

The measures were issued under Executive Order 13902, which targets Iran’s petroleum and petrochemical sectors.

Friday’s measures also come as Washington is simultaneously tightening pressure at sea, underscoring that U.S. strategy is increasingly combining financial sanctions with physical disruption of Iranian-linked trade.

Even as Treasury targets the buyers and shipping networks sustaining Iranian exports, U.S. naval forces have expanded blockade enforcement tied to the broader confrontation with Tehran, including vessel interdictions, turn-backs and high-profile seizures that have become a central issue in ongoing negotiations.

Since February 2025, Treasury says it has sanctioned more than 1,000 Iran-related persons, vessels and aircraft under the broader campaign.

For shipping markets, the question now is whether the U.S. blockade and sanctions can meaningfully disrupt flows—or simply force them deeper into the opaque networks that have thus far kept Iranian barrels moving.

https://gcaptain.com/u-s-targets-major-chinese-refinery-and-ships-in-escalating-crackdown-on-irans-oil-trade/

Inform Greta that Gaza cannot be rebuilt because carbov wmissions

==Middle East Reconstruction Poses a Carbon Shock as Shipping Bears the Climate Bill

Paul Morgan April 24, 2026

New academic research suggests reconstruction emissions from Gaza could rival weeks of global shipping emissions, raising questions about carbon accountability.

By Paul Morgan (Opinion) – The concrete and steel needed to rebuild Gaza, Lebanon and beyond will generate more CO? than the entire global shipping fleet produces in three weeks. Yet the nations responsible face no carbon liability whatsoever, while the ships that will deliver the cement and rebar to rebuild those ruins will be taxed, metered and penalised for every tonne they emit

The bombardment of Gaza, the systematic flattening of southern Lebanon and the relentless attrition of conflict across the wider Middle East have produced, among their many catastrophic consequences, one that the international community has conspicuously declined to price: a carbon debt of staggering proportions. While the maritime industry is now compelled to account for every tonne of CO? it emits, paying into carbon markets, submitting to the International Maritime Organization’s tightening regulatory framework, and facing full EU emissions trading scheme liability from 2026, the governments whose bombs and rockets reduced entire city districts to powdered concrete face no equivalent obligation whatsoever.

And in one of the more brutal ironies the climate crisis has yet produced, the ships that will carry the cement, the rebar and the aggregate needed to rebuild those ruins will themselves be taxed for making the delivery.

The numbers demand attention. A peer-reviewed study published in the journal One Earth in early 2026 calculated that total greenhouse gas emissions across all phases of the Israel-Gaza conflict, pre-war military construction, active warfare and post-conflict reconstruction, amounted to 33.2 million tonnes of CO? equivalent, a figure comparable to the entire annual emissions of Jordan. The reconstruction component alone dwarfs the others.

Researchers from Lancaster University and Queen Mary University of London estimated that rebuilding the damage caused in the first four months of active bombardment would generate between 46.8 million and 60 million tonnes of CO? equivalent, using a conservative assumption of 300 tonnes of embodied carbon per building. That single reconstruction programme, they concluded, would produce more CO? than the combined annual emissions of over 135 individual nations, placing it on a par with Sweden and Portugal.

Lebanon adds further weight to the ledger. The exchanges between the Israel Defense Forces and Hezbollah across the country’s south destroyed an estimated 3,600 homes; their reconstruction alone is projected to generate 881,433 tonnes of CO? equivalent. These are not trivial numbers. And if the wider regional picture — damaged ports, shattered road networks, disabled utilities and destroyed public institutions across multiple states — is eventually brought into the accounting, the combined reconstruction carbon obligation could become extraordinary.

To understand why reconstruction carries such an immense carbon burden, it is necessary to understand cement. Global cement manufacturing is responsible for approximately 7 to 8% of the world’s total CO? emissions, producing 1.6 billion metric tonnes in 2022 alone, placing the cement sector’s annual footprint above that of most individual nations. The root cause is thermochemical: to produce Portland cement, limestone must be calcined in kilns at temperatures approaching 1,450°C. That process burns vast quantities of fuel, but the deeper problem is that the limestone itself chemically releases CO? when converted into clinker. In other words, much of cement’s carbon footprint is embedded in the chemistry and cannot be avoided simply by switching to cleaner energy. This calcination process accounts for up to 50% of cement’s entire carbon output. No amount of renewable energy at the kiln eliminates the process emissions; they are a function of chemistry, not combustion.

More:

https://gcaptain.com/middle-east-reconstruction-poses-a-carbon-shock-as-shipping-bears-the-climate-bill/

>>24537438

That's nice

Changed back to Department of War quite some time ago

>>24537463

Haaretz eh?

(sound of sensible chuckle)

>>24537525

kek

now now anon, the EU believes some Chinese businesses are actually independent