Cook Islands Involved in Trade of Sanctioned Oil to China?

The office of the Cook Islands shipping registry, where tankers allegedly used for transporting sanctioned oil were reportedly registered.

Several tankers suspected of transporting Iranian and Russian oil to China were registered to the Cook Islands, according to an ongoing investigation by AFP. The news agency analyzed sanctions data from the U.S. and UK, and found that at least 34 ships tagged as transporting sanctioned oil in 2024 and 2025 were registered in the island state.

New Zealand is one of the Cook Islands’ closest international partners. A spokesperson for the New Zealand Prime Minister called it “a completely unacceptable and untenable foreign policy divergence” and said Wellington had complained about the registry to the government of the Cook Islands before.

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by CGSP Staff

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