China’s tanker owning company Cosco Dalian, which was sanctioned by the U.S. two weeks ago for knowingly shipping Iranian oil, has seen one third of its oil tankers turn off their automatic identification system (AIS) transponders in the past week, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing ship tracking data from Refinitiv Eikon. Two weeks ago, the U.S. imposed sanctions on several Chinese tanker owners for shipping Iranian oil , including units of Cosco, who owns more than 40 oil tankers, including 26 supertankers, or the so called very large crude carriers (VLCCs). The U.S. slapped the sanctions on September 25 on a number of Chinese tanker-owning firms and executives for transporting Iranian oil in violation of the U.S. sanctions on the Islamic Republic. “We are imposing sanctions on certain Chinese firms for knowingly engaging in a significant transaction for the transport of oil from Iran, including knowledge of sanctionable conduct, […]