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1 1 (November 8, 2024)

handle is hein.crs/govergh0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Iran's Petroleum Exports to China and U.S. Sanctions Updated November 8, 2024 Many Members in the 118th Congress remain concerned with Iran's ability to raise revenue by selling petroleum, which has been a long-term target of U.S. sanctions. Iran's petroleum exports reportedly reached new heights in 2024, with nearly all exports going to the People's Republic of China (PRC). Techniques used to obscure Iranian petroleum exports complicate efforts to identify Iran's trade patterns and to use sanctions effectively in furtherance of U.S. foreign policy. Background: U.S. Sanctions U.S. efforts to limit Iranian income from petroleum and petroleum products (petroleum) via sanctions go back decades. Section 1245(d) of the FY2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA, P.L. 112-81; 22 U.S.C. §8513a(d)) directed the President to block from the U.S. financial system foreign financial institutions that knowingly conduct any significant financial transaction with sanctioned Iranian banks, including Iran's Central Bank, excluding foreign central banks that do not engage in transactions related to Iranian petroleum. The statute also excepts from secondary sanctions foreign financial institutions in countries determined to be significantly reducing their purchases of Iranian crude oil (President Trump approved the last such exception in 2018). In 2018, President Donald Trump ceased U.S. participation in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and issued Executive Order 13846, which reinstated sanctions that had been terminated pursuant to the JCPOA. E.O. 13846 authorizes sanctions targeting persons, including foreign financial institutions, that the Secretary of the Treasury determines to have knowingly engaged in a significant transaction for the purchase, acquisition, sale, transport, or marketing of Iranian petroleum. The United States has sanctioned dozens of entities for their role in the shipment of Iranian petroleum to Asia. Congress enacted measures intended to increase sanctions on Iranian petroleum in an April 2024 emergency supplemental appropriations package (P.L. 118-50). Iran's Petroleum Exports to the People's Republic of China (PRC) U.S. secondary sanctions aim to deny revenue to the primary malign actor by imposing costs to dissuade foreign persons from participating in activities that are illegal for U.S. persons. Iranian petroleum exports reportedly hit a record in the first quarter of2024, with almost all going to China (Figure 1). An October 2024 Economist investigation estimated that Iranian petroleum and petrochemical sales generated Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress.gov IN12267 CRS INSIGHT Prepared for Members and Committees of Congress

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