“China has always been the biggest buyer” of Iranian oil, especially after American sanctions on Iran were expanded in 2019. China gets Iranian crude oil at a discount “of about 8% compared to the market price, because Iran has few other buyers.”
Saeed Ghasseminejad, senior adviser on Iran from the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies in Washington, D.C., pointed this out regarding the relationship between China and Iran:
Before 1979, Iran was the key partner of the United States in the region. Right now, it’s important for China that that Iran does not go back to that, so it doesn’t want the regime to fall.
The close partnership between Iran and China extends beyond oil:
Iran is one of the world’s few countries which allows Chinese tourists visa-free entry, and thousands of Chinese citizens lived in Iran, many of them working for Chinese oil and energy companies. China says it has now evacuated more than 3,000 of its citizens from Iran since Israel’s first strikes on Iran earlier this month.
According to a senior White House official:
The President was simply calling attention to the fact that, because of his decisive actions to obliterate Iran’s nuclear facilities and broker a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, the Strait of Hormuz will not be impacted, which would have been devastating for China. The President continues to call on China and all countries to import our state-of-the-art oil rather than import Iranian oil in violation of U.S. sanctions,”
This confuses the issue even further about why Trump would give the green light for China to buy Iranian oil. Perhaps Trump is hoping that his good will might motivate China to buy US oil and persuade Iran to accept a nuke deal. It’s possible in the short term. More likely will be the manipulation of Trump by both China and Iran to buy time for them to strategize against their mutual enemy — America.
“Trump baffles with sudden U-turn on China buying Iranian oil,” Jerusalem Post, June 25, 2025:
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Tuesday appeared to undermine years of US sanctions on Iran, giving its biggest customer China the green light to carry on buying its oil as he seeks to bolster a ceasefire with Israel.
The announcement on social media — which surprised both oil traders and officials in his own government — could undermine the central element of Washington’s Iran policy under multiple administrations, which have sought to cut the regime’s main source of revenue by making its top export off limits.
“China can now continue to purchase oil from Iran,” the president said on Truth Social, amid a flurry of posts demanding Israel and Iran cease hostilities.
The statement landed only hours after Trump declared the Middle East rivals had agreed to a ceasefire, which got off to a shaky start with early breaches by both sides. It follows massive US airstrikes on several of the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities Sunday, an offensive aimed at stopping Tehran from obtaining an atomic weapon.
Oil prices extended losses after Trump’s comments, with West Texas Intermediate futures sinking 6% to settle near $64 a barrel in New York. The market had already plunged in recent days as the threat to oil flows from the Israel-Iran conflict faded…..
࿗Infidel࿘ says
I don’t have very strong opinions about this. Like money, oil is fungible, and it’s not like the US has a dearth of international customers for its oil. Question though is whether all the sanctions on Iran are lifted after the operation, or will that only happen after regime change?
If Iran is taken off the sanctions list, they’ll be free to resume the financing of Hizbullah, Hamas and the Houthis. Which is why regime change should be the threshold for sanctions to be lifted. Hopefully, the Iranian people can pull that off, so that Iranian oil too gets back into the world market, and is managed by people who won’t just send it to Venezuela to prop up Maduro’s regime
jewdog says
Appalling. This absolutely make no sense. The whole point of bombing the Iranian nukes was to deny those weapons to a dangerous regime, so then why not continue to undermine that regime? Instead, Trump insists on a truce, which is helpful to the regime as they can then rebuild their military, and now he wants to help Iran rebuild by allowing oil exports to China, another enemy state he is going to help, as he does Russia.
John Bolton is right about Trump: he has no strategic understanding or real policy. I think his main goal here is to collect accolades for having “won” the war and achieved peace, a quick fix, all with little effort or follow through, which is just a reflection of his shallow intellectual laziness.
abu taleb says
The people in the mainland China are suffering, if China can not buy oil from Iran, the people will suffer more.
OLD GUY says
I believe the reason Israel or America have not destroyed Irans oil industry is because of the world out come of cutting off oil to China. The loss of Irans oil coming into China would put China in a desperate situation, kind of like poking that big Panda Bear in the eye, no one knows the reaction.
Kimberly Hutchinson says
It seems China’s other option would be to buy oil from Vladimir Putin and his merry band of gangsters and thugs, which would fund continued aggression in Ukraine. Seems like a delicate dance.
Vito E says
I was a bit perplexed by Pres Trump’s decision as well. But Pres Trump’s decisions aren’t just about today’s outcome, but down the road. Which drives the anti-Trumpers nuts. LOL.
If you isolate Communist China, who is pining for a war, you push a desperate communist country to engage in war, ie., Taiwan possibly. By keeping the avenue open with Communist China to purchase oil from Iran, Trump keeps two things open –
China refrains from war, helping its people who are not happy with Xi & Company, and the Straits of Hormuz remain open, since this is also the main waterway for Communist China’s oil travel. Of course, the other issue is maybe avoiding plunging the Iranian economy into chaos, thereby punishing the Iranian people, who are not to blame for the Ayatollah’s devout terrorist fundamentalism.