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China protests US sanctions threat for buying Iran oil
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IANS | 23 Apr, 2019
China on Tuesday strongly protested against a threat by the US to impose
sanctions on countries that continue buying Iranian oil after
Washington decided not to reissue waivers for oil imports from the
Middle Eastern country.
Beijing urges Washington to respect its
interests and concerns as well as "refrain from actions that are
detrimental to Chinese rights and to global continued efforts to protect
the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises", Chinese
Foreign Ministry spokesperson Geng Shuang said during a press briefing.
"The
international community, including China, engages in normal energy
cooperation with Iran under the framework of international law, that is
legitimate and reasonable and should be respected and protected," Geng
was quoted as saying by Efe news.
He said that China had lodged a
formal complaint with the US for what it described as "wrongful
actions" and accused Washington of increasing "turbulences" in the
Middle East and the global energy market, for which Iranian crude oil
exports were "of great significance".
"We urge the US to take responsible and constructive attitudes instead of the contrary," Geng added.
The
Chinese spokesperson said that his country's reaction to the decision
of the Donald Trump-led administration was "the common position of the
vast majority of the international community".
The US threatened
on Monday to impose sanctions on India, China and Turkey if they
continued buying crude oil from Iran after it suspended the six-month
waivers granted to eight countries that allowed them to continue
importing limited quantities of crude oil from Iran.
Trump
decided not to renew the 180-day waiver, which will end on May 2, saying
the move "aims to bring Iran's oil exports to zero, denying the regime
its principal source of revenue", according to a statement issued by the
White House.
Since taking office in January 2017, Trump
increased pressure on Tehran and in May 2018, he fulfilled his electoral
promise of withdrawing from a 2015 nuclear accord reached with Iran by
the previous administration of Barack Obama along with five world
powers.
The agreement, signed in 2015 between Iran and the five
permanent members of the UN Security Council - China, France, Russia,
the UK and the US - plus Germany, placed strict limits on Iran's nuclear
programme in order to prevent the country from building nuclear
weapons, in return for lifting sanctions that had strangled its economy.
As a result of the tightening of sanctions, Iran's oil exports
have fallen to some 800,000 barrels a day - from the previous 2.5
million - while the national currency, the rial, has fallen sharply.
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Customs Exchange Rates |
Currency |
Import |
Export |
US Dollar
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66.20
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64.50 |
UK Pound
|
87.50
|
84.65 |
Euro
|
78.25
|
75.65 |
Japanese
Yen |
58.85 |
56.85 |
As on 13 Aug, 2022 |
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