Lawmakers seek information from Biden administration on Iran oil exports to China

EXCLUSIVE — Reps. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Don Bacon (R-NE) sent a bipartisan letter to two Cabinet secretaries requesting information raising concerns about Iran’s export of oil to China and asking for information about the administration’s plan to curb it.

The letter was sent to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and in the wake of Hamas’s invasion of Israel, the two members of Congress raised concerns about Iran and its oil export to China and urged the administration to “use all available tools at its disposal to halt Iran’s financing, arming, and training of terrorist organizations, including Hamas and Hezbollah.”

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The representatives cited reports that estimate Chinese imports of sanctioned Iranian oil are at the highest level in decades. It is estimated China receives 1.5 million barrels a day of Iranian crude oil. The oil is sent to “semi-private refiners in Shandong” known as “teapots,” they wrote in the letter. This allows China to obscure its role in the illicit oil purchases and “shield larger Chinese firms and the Chinese Communist Party from exposure to the U.S. financial system and associated sanctions.”

“Iran’s evasion of sanctions constitutes a clear and present danger not only to our allies, but to America’s forward operating forces in the Middle East,” they wrote. “It is therefore critical that we do everything in our power to stop the financing of Iranian-backed terrorism.”

Gallego and Bacon asked the secretaries questions about their approach to curbing Iranian oil exports, including: What is the administration’s plan to stem the flow of illicit Iranian oil sales to China? How is the administration preparing for an expected rise in oil prices resulting from instability in the Middle East? What, if any, new sanctions are the administration planning to put in place on Iran?

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This is not the first time Gallego has pressured President Joe Biden and his administration to do something about Iran and its oil exports.

In early October, Gallego teamed up with Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI) to call on the Biden administration to freeze the $6 billion America gave Iran in exchange for hostages and to enforce sanctions fully on Iranian oil exports to China.