By Al-Fassel | 2025-06-04

The United States has slapped new sanctions on nearly two dozen front companies, buyers and facilitators across Hong Kong, China, Singapore and the Seychelles that help Iran's Armed Forces General Staff sell oil internationally.

The proceeds of these oil sales fund the Iranian regime's weapons programs and "its dangerous and destabilizing activities," US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said May 13.

"The United States will continue targeting this primary source of revenue, so long as the regime continues its support for terrorism and proliferation of deadly weapons."

The blacklisted entities are linked to Sepehr Energy Jahan Nama Pars Company, itself sanctioned in November 2023 for overseeing the Iranian military's network of front companies selling oil internationally.

The Iranian regime allocates billions in oil revenue annually to its armed forces, funding ballistic missile development, drones and regional terrorist groups, the Treasury said.

Multiple front companies

Sepehr Energy operates through multiple Hong Kong-based front companies -- Xin Rui Ji, Star Energy International, and Milen Trading -- to broker deals with independent Chinese refineries while concealing Iranian involvement.

From mid-2023 to mid-2024, the previously sanctioned Sepehr Energy front company Puyuan Trade Co. delivered numerous shipments to Xin Rui Ji at Qingdao Port, leasing multiple petroleum storage tanks in Dongjiakou, China.

CCIC Singapore PTE Ltd. meanwhile provides inspection services and false certifications that obscure Iranian origins, including a late 2024 transfer of two million barrels of oil that was fraudulently labeled as Malaysian crude.

Sister company Huangdao Inspection continues to provide services to sanctioned vessels carrying Iranian oil.

And Qingdao Linkrich International Shipping Agency handles vessel operations in China's Shandong province, home to many independent "teapot" refineries that purchase Iranian crude.

Hong Kong firms Metaone Trading Limited, South Sea Energy Limited, Continental Sinoil Group Limited and Winso Trading Limited, and Singapore-based Oriental Apple Company handled millions of barrels of Iranian oil in 2024.

Sanctions build on previous actions

Sepehr Energy's financial inspector Mohammad Khorasani Niasari, an Iranian national is facing sanctions.

Also blacklisted is Qingdao Fushen Petrochemical, which purchased over $138 million in oil from Sepehr Energy front companies.

Sepehr Energy official Elyas Nirumand Toomaj used two aging oil tankers, Cameroon-flagged Balu and Panama-flagged Roc, to covertly transport oil through a network linked to Iran’s military.

Their owners, Seychelles-based Forsal Chartering Corporation and Hong Kong-based Fine Sanmata Shipping Co., are also facing censure.

The Treasury has taken 19 recent actions sanctioning 253 individuals, entities and vessels connected to Tehran's operations, building on earlier measures targeting Iran's military funding streams.

These include the sanctioning, in 2019, of Iran's Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics (MODAFL) for providing material support to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force.