U.S. President Donald Trump said he will make a decision over the next few days about lifting sanctions on Chinese oil companies that buy Iranian oil.
Following the president’s visit to China, Trump was asked on Friday whether he would consider lifting the sanctions.
“Well, we talked about that, and I’m going to make a decision over the next few days,” Trump said.
Earlier this year, Washington looked to cut off revenue streams to Iran as part of a “maximum pressure” campaign imposed by Trump, weeks before the war with Iran began.
In April, the U.S. sanctioned several independent refineries, known as “teapots,” found importing Iranian oil, including one of China’s largest, Hengli Petrochemical Refinery.
Iranian crude is usually transported to Chinese teapot refineries using a “shadow fleet” of tankers, which use deceptive tactics, such as disabling tracking systems and forging registration, to avoid detection. Many shipments involve multiple ship-to-ship transfers, sometimes using scrapped vessels that are no longer in operation, often in the Persian Gulf or the Strait of Malacca, to obscure their origins.
