IRAN SAYS BILLIONS IN OIL REVENUE REMAIN FROZEN IN CHINA
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said this week that Iranian funds held in China remain inaccessible, claiming Tehran shipped oil to China but has been unable to freely withdraw the resulting payments.
“We shipped our underground oil over there, tanker by tanker, only for the payment to be tightly withheld in their banks, not a single cent withdrawable,” Pezeshkian said.
China has remained the main buyer of Iranian crude despite U.S. sanctions, with Iranian oil sales largely conducted through intermediaries and a shadow fleet. Much of the proceeds have been held through restricted or escrow-type arrangements rather than being freely available to Tehran.
Estimates of Iran’s frozen funds in China vary widely, with some reports putting the figure at $20 billion to $50 billion, while Tehran has claimed that more than $100 billion in Iranian assets are frozen worldwide.
The issue comes amid heightened U.S.–China discussions over Iran and the Strait of Hormuz. According to China’s official readout of President Donald Trump’s meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the two leaders discussed Iran’s commitment not to develop nuclear weapons and the principle that no country or institution should impose transit fees on international waterways.
U.S. Ambassador to China David Perdue also said Trump told Xi that Chinese assistance to Iran during the conflict would be “unacceptable,” and that Beijing had committed not to provide such assistance.
Iran’s oil revenues and access to foreign-held funds remain a major issue as Tehran faces continued sanctions and restrictions on its international financial transactions.