SULAIMANI (ESTA) — The United States has reached out to China diplomatically about reducing its purchase of Iranian crude oil, Reuters cited U.S. and European officials as saying.
Purchases of Iranian oil by Chinese companies are believed to have helped Keep Iran’s economy afloat despite U.S. sanctions that designed to choke off such sales to put pressure on Iran to curb its nuclear program.
Despite U.S. sanctions, Chinese companies are believed to have continued purchasing Iranian oil.
The sanctions were designed to choke off such sales to put pressure on Iran to curb its nuclear program.
“We are aware of the purchases that Chinese companies are making of Iranian oil,” a senior U.S. official told Reuters.
“We have used our sanctions authorities to respond to Iranian sanctions evasion, including those doing business with China, and will continue to do so if necessary” the official said.
“However, we have been approaching this diplomatically with the Chinese as part of our dialogue on Iran policy and think that, in general, this is a more effective path forward to address our concerns,” he added.
A European official also told Reuters that this was one of the issues raised by U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman when she visited China in late July, according to Reuters.
The official further said China had been protecting Iran and suggested one of the main issues for the West is how much oil China is buying from Iran.
