Iran's Revolutionary Guards have tightened control over the oil industry, managing up to half of the exports that fund Tehran's revenue and its proxies across the Middle East, according to Western officials, security sources, and Iranian insiders, Reuters reported Wednesday.

Every aspect of Iran's oil industry has increasingly fallen under the influence of the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), from the shadow fleet of tankers covertly transporting sanctioned crude to logistics and front companies facilitating oil sales, primarily to China, according to interviews conducted by Reuters with more than a dozen sources.

Last week, Iran International reported that the Revolutionary Guards are attempting to sell oil stored in China ahead of tougher sanctions expected under US President-elect Donald Trump, according to an informed source.

The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Iranian authorities have instructed the IRGC to sell the sanctioned oil stored at Dalian Port in northeast China through intermediary firms.