In April President Donald Trump announced there would not be an extension of waivers from sanctions targeting Iranian oil for China, India, Japan, South Korea and Turkey, after which they could face US sanctions themselves.
An Iranian oil tanker, The Salina, docked at China's Jinxi Refining and Chemical Complex near Beijing this week, apparently defying US sanctions on Tehran's exports, reports The Washington Times, citing data it claimed was from TankersTrackers.com.
Bourse & Bazaar, the website that tracks economic developments in Iran, reported the shipment referencing logs that showed a medium-sized Suezmax vessel belonging to the National Iranian Tanker Company leave the Iranian terminal on 2 May and arriving on 20 June near the port of Jinzhou near Beijing.
Several more tankers are reportedly expected to bring oil shipments to China in the next few weeks.
China has not commented on the media reports so far.
The Iranian oil tanker is thus reported to have embarked on its shipment of oil to China on 2 May – the day when exemptions for countries still buying oil from Iran were set to expire. Earlier, in April, US President Donald Trump had announced there would not be an extension of waivers from sanctions for China, India, Japan, South Korea and Turkey, after which they could face US sanctions themselves, as part of his maximum pressure campaign on Tehran.
China has long been one of Iran's biggest oil customers, and Beijing has continued to support the 2015…
