Trump’s Sanction on Chinese Company May Evoke Tension
The Trump administration is now imposing economic penalties on a Chinese company who imported Iranian oil. This decision poses an opportunity for tension between Washington and Beijing. According to Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, the economic sanction is due to the Chinese state-owned company and its top executive purchasing Iranian oil in violation of an American ban.
Mr. Pompeo mentioned that in a foreign policy speech as a veterans’ convention in Florida that Zhuhai Zhenrong, the Chinese company, and its chief executive, Li Youmin were violating the US limits on the Iranian oil sector. The sanction posed by Trump’s administration is the first of its kind, penalizing a Chinese company and executive for defying its restrictions on Iranian oil exports.
The step is sure to increase tensions between Beijing and Washington, which are embroiled in a long-running trade war and a strategic competition that extends to the globe. It will also add to the crisis in the Persian Gulf region, where the US and Iran are trading low-level hostilities and where the Iranian soldiers are boarding and grabbing commercial ships. The Treasury Department which is in charge of enforcing sanctions included the Chinese names announced by Mr. Pompeo to a list of Iran-related designations.
Iran’s largest revenue source is oil, and Trump’s administration targets to bring those exports to zero as part of a sanctioned campaign meant to force Iran to stop any ambitions it might be having for a nuclear weapon and its support of militias in the Middle East.
Mr. Trump announced a significant sanction on Iran after he backed out last year form a nuclear containment deal which Iran reached with world powers in 2015. His step was widely criticized by different governments since Iran had been abiding by the nuclear agreement that offered sanction relief in return for their compliance.
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