India, April 4 -- A US-sanctioned Aframax tanker carrying Iranian crude oil has rerouted mid-voyage from a planned destination in India to China, according to ship-tracking data, preventing what would have been India's first such import in nearly seven years.

The vessel in question is the Ping Shun (built in 2002, Eswatini-flagged, sanctioned by the US Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control in 2025). It is on time charter to Iran's State-owned National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) and was carrying approximately 600,000 barrels (6 lakh barrels) of Iranian crude, loaded earlier in March from Iran's Kharg Island.

Earlier this week, the tanker began signalling Vadinar in Gujarat, India, home to Nayara Energy's refinery, as its destinatio...