US can’t pressure China to pursue its policy of sanctions on Iran: Analyst

The United States cannot pressure a great power like China to pursue the controversial American policy of sanctions on Iran, according to Myles Hoenig, an American political analyst and activist. 

China on Friday rejected a US demand to cut Iranian oil imports despite Washington’s attempts to bring down the Islamic Republic's oil sales to zero, according to Bloomberg.

Bloomberg quoted informed officials as saying that the US had been unable to persuade China to cut Iranian oil imports and that Beijing's purchases from Tehran last month remained unchanged.  

This is a blow to US President Donald Trump’s efforts to isolate Iran after his withdrawal from a 2015 nuclear deal with the country, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), they said. 

Beijing, however, agreed not to increase purchases of Iranian crude, said the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

PressTV-China rejects US demand to cut Iranian oil imports

China has rejected a US demand to cut Iranian oil imports despite Washington’s attempts to bring down the Islamic Republic's oil sales to zero, Bloomberg reports.

“One wonders if a Democratic administration would be so stupid as to think it could expect China to honor a request to change its trade policy with Iran regarding oil exports,” Hoenig, a former Green Party candidate for Congress, told Press TV on Friday.

“How the US conducts its foreign policy may pull a lot of countries into its orbit, but China is a power on its own. China is exerting aggressive behavior through military expansion in the Pacific and does not abide by US demands on how it engages in trade with the US. It is a superpower that rivals that of the US,” he said.

“The Trump and Obama administrations share a similar philosophy of American exceptionalism. Obama didn’t mince words when gloating about America’s grandiose position in the world. Trump simply renames and re-packages it as ‘Make America Great Again,’” he stated.  

“Capitalism and imperialism is the guiding force behind US foreign policy but has yet to recognize that others simply won’t bow down to it. With the arrival of Donald Trump, the rival capitalist country of China is surpassing the US on the world stage. As Trump isolates the US world-wide, it is becoming easier for more and more countries to distance themselves from the US. China is in a class on its own, a serious rival to Wall Street,” he noted.

“Both the Democratic and Republican administrations are equal in their desire for regime change in Iran. They both supported the overthrow of the democratically elected [Mohammad] Mossadegh, the installation of the Shah, and equally abhor the theocracy that exists today,” the analyst said.

“Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal changed much regarding an effective US policy towards Iran. Whereas Obama was able to impose effective sanctions on Iran and its people, attempts by Trump are falling flat. China’s refusal to change its trade policy highlights the powerlessness and isolation of the US on the world stage,” Hoenig concluded.

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