Iran took about 3 million barrels of oil for export from storage in China to receive funds to support allies in the Middle East, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources.
The fuel was taken from a storage facility where Iran placed at least 25 million barrels at the end of 2018, fearing the introduction of new US sanctions preventing the sale of Iranian oil. She was stationed at ports in Dalian and Zhoushan.
Two vessels, Madestar and CH Billion, recently set sail for the first one. Both ships interrupted the transmission of data about their geo-position. According to the WSJ, the data of the MarineTraffic ship tracking service confirm the movement of ships, which were told by the newspaper's sources.
It is unclear how much Tehran received for this oil, but WSJ sources said that the money was sent to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. According to their estimates, if Iran sold the entire oil reserve from storage at current prices, it could earn over $ 2 billion, but it owes China about $1 billion for storage.
Interlocutors of the newspaper said that Tehran in the past appealed to Beijing asked for permission to take this oil, but China refused to do so. Regular negotiations were held in November-December, and last month China allowed the Islamic Republic to sell oil from these reserves.
A representative of the Chinese Foreign Ministry said that the ministry is not aware of this situation, but Beijing cooperates with all countries, including Iran, within the framework of international law. The ministry added that China opposes the "abuse of illegal and unjustified unilateral sanctions" by the United States. The Iranian side declined to comment.
China, the WSJ notes, has not officially bought oil from Iran since 2022, fearing US sanctions. However, according to United Against Nuclear Iran, Tehran exported 587 million barrels of oil last year, and Beijing received 91% of this volume. Gregory Brew, senior analyst on Iran and energy at Eurasia Group consulting firm, pointed out that due to sanctions, most of the proceeds remained abroad.
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