[KellyLynchIV]

China warned not to take advantage of Iran sanctions, OR WHAT ???

Who the fuck the American still think they are ?


Washington called on China on Monday not to fill the vacuum in Iran’s struggling energy sector by taking advantage of the departure of primarily European companies that have complied with atomic sanctions.

Iran is the third biggest oil supplier to China, and Beijing is investing heavily in the Islamic Republic’s energy fields and refineries. Prioritising this commercial relationship, China condemned moves by the European Union last month to ratchet up sanctions against Tehran’s nuclear programme by hitting transport, energy and finance.


While conceding China’s “large and genuine” need for energy security, Robert Einhorn, US special advisor for non-proliferation and arms control, said one of the priorities of his visit to Beijing later this month would be to persuade the country to pull out of Iran because of sanctions.

“One concern that a number of countries expressed when approached to take measures against Iran is that ‘if we practise restraint, China will fill in behind, China will take advantage of our restraint’,” Mr Einhorn told reporters in Seoul.

“We want China to be a responsible stakeholder in the international system and that means co-operating with UN security council resolutions, and it means not back-filling, not taking advantage of responsible self-restraint of other countries.”

China is already a crucial partner for Iran as European companies have quit major projects, particularly the massive South Pars gas field beneath the waters of the Gulf. European companies such as Shell, Repsol, OMV, and Total had pursued projects there but the only foreign investor remaining is China National Petroleum Corporation.

The South Pars gas had been particularly prized because of the lucrative potential of converting it into liquefied natural gas. Foreign oil companies say they were ultimately deterred not only by sanctions but also by poor contractual terms and the purging of technocrats from Iran’s state energy companies.

The US has targeted gasoline imports as Tehran’s Achilles heel. While western companies have cut off their exports to Iran, Beijing not only ships gasoline but is committed to help expand refinery capacity. Although Iran is the second biggest crude producer in the Organisation of Oil Exporting Countries, it lacks refinery capacity and has to import more than 30 per cent of the oil it needs.

Stressing increasing ties to Beijing, Hossein Noghrehkar, a deputy oil minister, told Iranian media last week that Chinese investment in the energy sector totalled $40bn. He added that Tehran and Beijing were also considering the construction of seven new refineries.