Official: China, Iran can join hands to fight US pressures

A senior Chinese official has called for Tehran and Beijing to join forces in confronting US pressures as he stressed that China’s resolve to develop relations with Iran was unwavering.

Iran has come under the most draconian sanctions after President Donald Trump withdraw the US from the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran, while China is embroiled in a trade war with the United States.

Head of the Communist Party’s International Department Song Tao lashed out at the unilateral sanctions and “American bullying” as he met senior Iranian officials in Tehran to discuss the most pressing issues facing the two countries.

“China's resolve to develop relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran and implement agreements between the two countries will not change,” he said, adding the two countries can share their experiences to counter US pressure.

Beijing is Tehran’s largest oil customer, with total imports last year averaging 585,400 barrels per day (bpd).

China has pushed back against the US after the Trump administration ended waivers which allowed Iran’s eight biggest buyers to continue importing limited volumes.

The Asian powerhouse says its cooperation with Iran is legitimate under international law and should be "respected".

Chinese energy groups have invested in Iran’s oil projects, some of which are facing challenges as a result of the US sanctions, Song said.

“I hope that through negotiation, we can find appropriate methods to resolve problems and speed up the implementation of projects,” the senior Chinese diplomat said.

Companies such as Sinopec and China National Petroleum Corp (CNPC) have invested billions of dollars in Iranian oil fields and recoup their money by sending oil from the fields to China.

One major project facing difficulties is China's participation in phase 11 of South Pars.

Iran has rejected a request by CNPC to suspend operations in the project where the Chinese company has currently an 80-percent share of investment. 

CNPC became the dominant investor in plans for expansion of South Pars, the world’s largest gas field, after France’s Total withdrew from the project under increasing pressure from the United States.

The state-owned Chinese company, however, has decided to continue investing in the North Azadegan and Masjid-i-Suleiman (MIS) oilfields.

PressTV-‘China steady on Iran oilfields but to ditch gas plan’

Reuters says China's CNPC has decided to continue investing in two major Iranian oilfields but suspend investment in the South Pars natural gas project under US pressure.

Some of Chinese refineries are also configured to process Iranian grades which yield better margins than those supplied by other exporters such as Saudi Arabia, according to China’s refinery officials.

Last Tuesday, China strongly denounced US sanctions on energy company Zhuhai Zhenrong Co Ltd for allegedly violating unilateral American sanctions on Iran’s oil industry.

Zhuhai Zhenrong has strong links to Iran and accounts for more than 60% of China's trade with the Islamic Republic, according to its website.

The company, which is already under US sanctions for supplying gasoline to Iran in 2012, has little overseas exposure. 

Two and a half months after the White House banned the purchase of Iran’s oil, the nation’s crude is continuing to be sent to China where it’s being put into what’s known as “bonded storage”.

According to Bloomberg, tankers are offloading millions of barrels of Iranian oil into storage tanks at Chinese ports, creating a hoard of crude sitting on the doorstep of the world’s biggest buyer.

In his talks with Song on Monday, Iranian Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri called on China and other countries friendly with Iran to buy more Iranian oil.

“Even though we are aware that friendly countries such as China are facing some restrictions, we expect them to be more active in buying Iranian oil,” he said.

Jahangiri said Iran is also ready to pipe its gas to China through Pakistan which is sitting on a project to complete a pipeline designed for receiving Iranian natural gas.

While Iran has completed its part of the pipeline with a total investment of over $2 billion, Pakistan has fallen short on taking delivery of gas, initially scheduled for 2014.

“Gas is the most important future energy resource in the world, and Iran has the largest gas reserves in the world, and we are ready to export gas to China via Pakistan's transmission line,” Jahangiri said.

Addressing the Chinese diplomat’s call for sharing experiences to confront US sanctions, Jahangiri touched on Iran’s “economy of resistance” which has helped to ensure “economic and social stability despite US sanctions”.

“The US thinks it can bring our oil sales down to zero through putting pressure on the countries buying oil from Iran and lead to the collapse of the Iranian economy. But fortunately, a year after the American oil sanctions, Iran’s economic situation remains reasonably stable,” he said.

Jahangiri said, “The overall policies of the resistance economy seek to rely on domestic capacities, develop relations with neighboring and friendly countries such as China, reduce reliance on oil revenues and develop a knowledge-based, popular economy.”

He said a delegation from Iran’s ministry of economic affairs and finance and the central bank will travel to China next week.

“I hope there will be constructive negotiations on a financial exchange mechanism between the two countries.”

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