Oil, gas and Iran economic analyst
Iran has begun shipping oil stored in China with Beijing's approval, sources told The Wall Street Journal, about two weeks after Iran International reported Tehran's determination to sell off the supplies ahead of harsher sanctions expected under Donald Trump.
The 25 million barrels of oil were gradually shipped to China prior to May 2019 as a precaution when President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on Iran’s oil exports but granted China temporary waivers.
However, in May 2019, when the Trump administration revoked these waivers, the oil was left unsold and stranded in leased storage tanks at the ports of Dalian and Zhoushan.
On December 23, Iran International first reported on the IRGC’s mission to remove these oil reserves from Chinese Dalian port. In a subsequent report, Iran International cited a source as saying that Iran was trying to withdraw other oil reserves from Zhoushan Port, China.
Following these reports, Reuters sources on January 8 confirmed the existence of such a large volume of blocked Iranian oil reserves in China, adding that Iran must pay $450 million in storage fees to Chinese oil storage facilities to release it.
The Wall Street Journal latest report on January 11 has shed new light on Iran’s efforts to retrieve its stored oil from China, warning that the IRGC has taken charge of unloading and claiming this oil. There are concerns that the proceeds from its sale may be transferred to the Islamic Republic's regional proxy forces.
The report adds that two tankers, the Madestar and CH Billion, were recently dispatched to Dalian port to load part of the Iranian oil.
The Madestar, left Dalian earlier this month carrying 2 million barrels of oil, while the other, the CH Billion, is reportedly still docked in Dalian with a cargo of 700,000 barrels.
To circumvent sanctions and sell its oil, Iran has relied on intricate shipping networks. For a Chinese buyer to purchase the stored Iranian oil, the shipment would first need to leave China and re-enter, with its documentation altered to disguise it as non-Iranian oil.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the current value of Iran’s stranded oil in China exceeds $2 billion. However, Tehran owes approximately $1 billion in fees for the leased storage tanks at the two Chinese ports, twice as much as reported earlier by Reuters.
The newspaper, citing informed sources, wrote that concerns have grown over the withdrawal of the oil from Chinese ports and Tehran’s efforts to sell them under the IRGC's direction.
According to the report, Iran has allocated the revenue from this operation to the IRGC, which funds and arms affiliated groups across the Middle East.
In this context, the Associated Press reported on Sunday, January 12, that Hezbollah has started paying compensation to war-affected residents of southern Lebanon. In the past Iran has financed reconstruction costs and assistance to the Shiite population in Lebanon.
Sources in the report indicated that so far, certain families have received payments ranging from $194 to $14,000. Hezbollah has also mobilized 145 reconstruction teams comprising over 1,250 engineers and hundreds of analysts and accountants.
The World Bank estimated in a report in November — before the ceasefire later that month — that losses to Lebanon’s infrastructure amount to some $3.4 billion.
Under the budget law, Iran’s presidential administration has allocated 650,000 barrels of oil per day to the IRGC for the next Iranian fiscal year, starting March 21, to export directly and the revenue from these exports is designated for “strengthening the defensive capabilities of the Islamic Republic.”
In a letter issued on Saturday, the signatories condemned the death sentences of Pakhshan Azizi, Behrouz Ehsani, and Mehdi Hassani, currently held in Evin Prison, urging society to take urgent action to prevent their execution.
“While the ruling political system in Iran continues its crisis-inducing domestic and foreign policies, it seeks solutions through intensified repression in social, political, and cultural spheres,” read the letter.
The political prisoners emphasized that the Iranian government is escalating executions as a tool of control, particularly targeting political dissidents amid growing protest movements.
The letter called the death penalty "state-sponsored premeditated murder" and demanded its total abolition. It also highlighted the stark reality that over 1,000 executions have taken place in Iran in 2024 alone, with the country now responsible for nearly 75% of all global executions this year.
"This is not just a statistic but a method of silencing the oppressed," the prisoners wrote.
Amir Raisian, a defense attorney, confirmed on Wednesday that the death sentence of Pakhshan Azizi had been upheld by Iran's Supreme Court despite what he called numerous procedural flaws in the case. Azizi's brother, Aso Azizi, added that her case had been forwarded to the execution unit.
The Supreme Court also upheld the death sentences of Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani on the same day, according to reports from HRANA, a human rights monitoring group.
Fear of growing protest movements
The letter’s signatories warned that the increasing use of executions is part of a broader strategy to stifle dissent.
"The regime, worried about the emergence of new protest movements, is attempting to maintain an atmosphere of fear and terror in society," they wrote.
In response to the sharp rise in executions, protests have erupted both domestically and internationally, with global human rights organizations calling for immediate action.
The issue has become more urgent amid the ongoing hunger strikes by prisoners in the "No to Executions Tuesdays" campaign, which entered its 50th week on January 7. Initially launched in February 2024, the campaign has spread to 30 prisons across Iran, demanding a halt to executions.
On January 6, HRANA reported that 54 prisoners across the country now face execution on political or security-related charges, a significant rise from 33 in February 2024. This increase underscores the growing crackdown on dissent, with at least 21 new individuals added to the list of political prisoners facing death sentences in the past year.
A call for action from inside Evin
Sepideh Gholian, a political prisoner held in Evin Prison’s women’s ward, also reacted strongly to the Supreme Court’s confirmation of Azizi’s death sentence. In a letter obtained by Iran International, Gholian called on people to form a "chain of life to combat the regime's culture of death."
She described the atmosphere as war-like, saying that prisoners are living in constant fear of execution.
"Behind these tall walls and barbed wires, we are women who whisper the names of those sentenced to death every day," Gholian wrote. "The death sentence of Pakhshan Azizi, a woman who once protected war-stricken children, has been confirmed."
Azizi, a Kurdish social worker, was arrested in Tehran on August 4, 2023. After enduring nearly five months of solitary confinement and torture, she was transferred to Evin Prison’s women’s ward in December. In July, Azizi was sentenced to death by Judge Iman Afshari of Branch 26 of the Tehran Revolutionary Court for charges of "rebellion" (Baghi). The Supreme Court upheld her sentence on January 8, and her case is now in the hands of the execution unit, her family confirmed.
Azizi's case has drawn widespread attention to the Islamic Republic’s practice of using the death penalty to suppress political activism and dissent. International human rights groups continue to demand her release and the abolition of capital punishment in Iran.