China Says Iran Sanctions Not “Constructive”

China has stood fast with the other permanent members of the UN Security Council in opposing Iran’s nuclear program. Where the Chinese draw the line, however, is at the sanctions proposed by the US and adopted last week by the European Union. China does not consider the sanctions a “constructive” answer to Iran’s threat to close the Strait of Hormuz.

Interestingly, China probably stands to gain the most from a European embargo on Iranian crude, provided that Iran does not move to close the Strait. China would be happy to get the additional 450,000 daily barrels from Iran. As The Wall Street Journal notes in its ChinaRealTimeReport, the EU sanctions could “engender the transfer of billions of dollars in oil earnings from the Iranian government to China’s main oil trading firms: Zhuhai Zhenrong, Unipec, Chinaoil, and Sinochem.”