US and European officials revealed on Tuesday that the United States has made diplomatic contact with China on reducing the purchase of Iranian crude oil.Washington is currently trying to persuade Tehran to restart negotiations on restoring the 2015 nuclear agreement.
According to Reuters, a senior American official who did not want to disclose his name said: "We know that Chinese companies are buying Iranian oil, and we have responded to Iran's evasion of sanctions through our sanctions, including those who do business with China business with ChinaIf necessary, we will continue to do this. "
The official said: "However, we have been contacting China through diplomatic channels as part of our dialogue on Iranian policy. We believe that overall, this is a more effective way to solve our concern."
Another European officials revealed that this was one of the issues raised by US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman when visiting China at the end of July.The European official said that China has been maintaining Iran and said that one of the main issues in the West is to understand how much oil China is buying from Iran.Due to the sensitivity of nuclear diplomacy, the official was also unwilling to disclose his name.
The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comments on state and European officials.
Although the United States imposes sanctions on Iran to curb its nuclear plan.However, Chinese companies' purchase of Iranian oil is considered helping to maintain the economy of Iran.The commodity analysis company Kpler estimates that as of August, the average imported oil import from Iran this year is 553,000 barrels per day.
