GreenergyDaily

Jan. 13, 2026

US President Donald Trump said the US will impose a 25% tariff on goods from any country doing business with Iran, effective immediately. The move escalates pressure on Tehran and risks disrupting America's trade ties with partners, especially China, given Beijing’s role as Iran’s top oil buyer.

China buys more than 80% of Iran's shipped oil, data for 2025 from analytics firm Kpler showed. Iranian oil has limited buyers due to U.S. sanctions aimed at cutting off funding to Tehran's nuclear programme.

China purchased on average 1.38 million barrels per day of Iranian oil last year, according to Kpler. That represented about 13.4% of the total 10.27 million bpd of oil it imported by sea.

Chinese independent refiners known as teapots, clustered mainly in Shandong province, are the main buyers of Iranian crude, drawn by its discount to non-sanctioned barrels.

China's big state oil companies have refrained from buying Iranian oil since 2018/2019, traders and experts have said.

Iranian Light crude has traded at around $8 to $10 a barrel below ICE Brent on a delivered basis to China since December, from a discount of about $6 in September, traders said. That means Chinese refiners save about $8 to $10 a barrel if they buy Iranian Light rather than non-sanctioned Oman crude, according to calculations by a trader and Reuters.