As the US and Iran continue to trade barbs over the reimposition of economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic, China is also entering the verbal fray.
On Monday, Andrey Yu, the head of the international office of China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, said Chinese companies need the Iranian oil and will continue to buy it, Oil Price reported.
“China does not pay attention to the US sanctions on Iran. It is a routine between Iran and China and has nothing to do with the US. Oil, gas and trade should not be influenced by the US anymore,” he said.
Yu told IRNA that Chinese and Russian companies can fill up the vacuum of Total and other European companies, so it is highly improbable that Iran would face a problem in extracting and investing in oil.
“Iran has been able to keep progressing in the past decades despite the sanctions,” he said, adding that Iran and China can have closer ties. “Whatever the US does cannot impede cooperation between Iran and China.”
Yu’s comments come as the war of words between the US and Iran has escalated, with a geopolitically divisive role played by Saudi Arabia, OPEC’s de facto leader and Iran’s bitter rival in the region.
Iran’s OPEC Governor Hossein Kazempour Ardebili said late last month that Trump was mistaken to expect Saudi Arabia and other oil producers to compensate for supply losses caused by US sanctions on Iran.
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