The United States has warned China’s shipping companies involved in undetectable Iranian oil shipment, by switching the ships’ transponders off, to stay away from the practice. Two senior US administration officials called the practice a violation of US sanctions against Iran.
According to an official, they have clarified the Chinese shipping companies to review their practice and their incredibly dangerous and irresponsible behavior. China has remained the only largest buyer of Iranian oil since President Donald Trump has levied sanctions against Iran exports. The main drive behind the US President’s decision of restricting sanctions was to make the oil supply of Tehran zero. The US also wants to end Iran’s nuclear program and its monopoly in the Gulf region.
Earlier in September, Washington has tightened sanctions on 5 Chinese officials and 2 COSCO Shipping Corp subsidiaries. It cited the Chinese violation of sanctions by shipping Tehran’s crude oil. Trump-administration insisted that COSCO has reportedly closed down AIS on their ships. However, COSCO Shipping Tanker rejected the accusations of turning off AIS controllers and denied that it never halted transferring AIS signals.
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