Iran is aggressively expanding partnerships with allied states to grow its oil and gas sector despite Western sanctions and rising unsold crude inventories.

China’s independent oil refiners are boosting their intake of Iranian crude from onshore tanks and ships idling at sea after Beijing issued a fresh round of import quotas late last month.

In response to a reporter seeking to demystify the status of Iranian oil sanctions under Trump, the president clarified little—instead opting to casually mention that he could have plundered Iran’s oil but opted not to. Just days after Trump’s ...

Slowing imports from China, driven by government quotas and US sanctions on Chinese entities, have pushed the volume of Iranian oil held in floating storage to 52 million barrels, the highest level since May 2023,

The seizure had little impact on global oil prices, because of exiting oversupply and due to the fact that Venezuela makes up only around 1% of the overall market. That could change, depending on how aggressive the U.S. gets. But the Trump administration will be mindful that it doesn’t want to see domestic prices rise as a result.

Recent FDD reports found that Iranian oil exports have remained near peak levels in spite of U.S. sanctions, which the think tank attributed to a failure of enforcement

The U.S. aims to cut Iran's oil exports to near zero to deny funding for its nuclear program and weaken the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), with China being a key enabler by importing Iranian oil. Despite U.S. sanctions, China continued to ...