Iran has shipped about 3M barrels from storage facilities in China to raise funds that may be spent on Tehran’s militia allies in the Middle East, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday, citing people familiar with the matter.
According to the report, the oil is from stockpiles of at least 25M barrels Iran shipped to China in 2018, fearing new sanctions from the then-Trump administration, the people reportedly said.
The oil has been stored at ports in Dalian and Zhoushan, and two vessels recently set sail for the Dalian, the people were quoted as saying.
Beijing approved the shipments in December after discussions with Iranian officials in November and last month, the people reportedly said. The people reportedly added that it wasn’t the first time Tehran sought to drawn down the oil for sale, but it was the first time China gave its approval.
The Journal reported, one of the ships, the Madestar, departed Dalian earlier this month with 2M barrels of oil, and the second, the CH Billion, is thought to still be docked in Dalian and to be loaded with 700K barrels, the people said.
The people were quoted as saying Madestar ceased transmitting its location and intended route under the AIS international signal system earlier this month for three days while it was offshore Dalian and traveled to the port during that time. They reportedly said the ship headed to waters offshore South Korea to transfer oil to another vessel.
According to the people, CH Billion transmitted its position only briefly on Monday, the Journal reported.
Tehran could make up to $1B from the sale of the entire stockpiles, the people reportedly said, but it owes China about $1B in storage fees.
Some of the people were quoted as saying that Iran has earmarked the gains from selling the oil to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which arms and funds Tehran’s militia allies around the Middle East.
One of the people said the U.S. has raised its concerns to China about funds going to the IRGC through its dealings with Iran.
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