The United States is demanding that China cease any aid to the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the U.S. ambassador claimed Beijing is playing ball.
Ambassador to China David Perdue told CNBC in a Friday interview that President Donald Trump has communicated this request for weeks but revisited the issue during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Washington.
“We made it very clear to them weeks ago that any help that they would give Iran — whether it be direct or indirect, whether it be intelligence or parts or military equipment — was totally unacceptable,” Perdue said. “President Trump made that very clear again yesterday.”
Asked in a separate interview with Fox News’s America’s Newsroom whether the U.S. government actually expected the Chinese Communist Party to follow its demand, Perdue said officials have “seen movement on that already.”
“That’s what the commitment is. They assured us yesterday they’re not doing that,” Perdue said, acknowledging that “in the past, there was some intel and some potential parts that went to [Iran] either directly or indirectly.”
There was much speculation about what the two world leaders could announce by the end of their highly anticipated summit. Iran was among the most prominent issues heading into the meeting, as Iran relies heavily on Chinese oil purchases and indirect support to keep its crippled economy functioning.
But thus far, few official developments have emerged. As the two leaders walked near the press pool on Friday, Trump was asked whether he had spoken with Xi about the situation in Iran. Trump affirmed “we did” before responding to a follow-up question about the Strait of Hormuz by stating “I think we’re going to do great.”
A U.S. official told the Washington Examiner on Friday that American negotiators are “having positive and constructive discussions through the mediators.”
“The United States is in a very strong position with control of the Strait of Hormuz, so we are not in a rush,” the official said. “Over the last 48 hours, nearly 40 million barrels of oil have transited the Strait.”
The Iranian delegation to the United Nations offered a scorched-earth address this week that accused the U.S. of “genocide” and “terrorism” against its people for launching Operation Epic Fury earlier this year.
“We will never bow our heads or bend our knees,” said Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. “We are ready for dialogue, diplomacy, and negotiations, but will never accept the language of force.”
Richard Goldberg, senior adviser at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and a former director on countering Iran for the White House National Security Council, told the Washington Examiner that the Iranians are seeking to navigate their treacherous situation by deflecting their own crimes and twisting the knife on how the war has affected the global energy market.
“Two things can be true at once: the current strategy of squeezing the regime is working for us, while the tightness in the refined product market is worrisome — with other factors like Ukraine and shrinking domestic capacity playing an outsized role there,” Goldberg said.
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“It makes for good media fodder, which was perhaps their intention,” he said of the Iranian speech at the U.N. “Either attempting to use the election season to pressure Trump or distract the conversation from a delegation of people representing a regime that mass slaughtered 50,000 civilians. In the end, they know they can’t keep this up beyond Election Day — either Trump will escalate, which they fear, or the regime may financially collapse, which they also fear.”
China has attempted to keep a low profile and political distance from the conflict with Iran, an ally that has at times proved to be a liability for international relations. Beijing has instead rendered aid and supported the Iranian regime under the table with black market oil refineries, intelligence sharing, and cooperation on technologies.
“Although China has largely refrained from selling weapons directly to Iran since the mid-2000s, Beijing’s support for Tehran has continued in other forms,” the U.S.-China Economic AND Security Review Commission stated in a report this month. “China has provided significant economic, technological, and diplomatic support that has helped Iran mitigate international sanctions, sustain oil exports, and acquire dual-use technologies necessary for Iran’s drones, ballistic missiles, and other weapons.”
If China were to genuinely cease direct and indirect aid to Iran, it would be a catastrophic blow to the Islamic regime’s long-term viability.
