The US government on Thursday issued new Iran-related sanctions, targeting entities including, for the first time, a Chinese „teapot,“ or independent refinery, and vessels that supplied crude oil to such processing plants. The company affected is Shandong Shouguang Luqing Petrochemical Co, Ltd, which processes Iranian crude oil. „So-called ‘teapot’ refinery purchases of Iranian oil provide the primary economic lifeline for the Iranian regime, the world’s leading state sponsor of terror and the primary backer of the murderous Houthis in Yemen,“ US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a post on X. The punitive measures are part of the USA’s „maximum pressure“ strategy, with which President Donald Trump wants to reduce Iranian oil exports to zero.