China Backs Iran Nuclear Deal, Calls for New Middle East Forum

China's foreign minister Wang Yi has called for a new forum to defuse tensions in the Middle East after a meeting with his Iranian counterpart where he reiterated Beijing's support for Tehran.

Wang and Javid Zarif also reaffirmed their commitment to Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, according to the Chinese foreign ministry, an implicit rebuke of the United States for abandoning the accord during their Saturday meeting in China's southwestern Tengchong city.

Iran has been locked in an acrimonious relationship with Saudi Arabia, the other major Middle Eastern power, over the war in Yemen, Iranian influence in Iraq and Saudi support for Washington's sanctions on Tehran.

"China proposes to build a regional multilateral dialogue platform with equal participation of all stakeholders," said the Chinese foreign ministry statement.

The forum would "enhance mutual understanding through dialogue and explore political and diplomatic solutions to security issues in the Middle East", the statement added.

Wang added that support for the Iranian nuclear deal, negotiated by the Obama administration but ultimately abandoned by Donald Trump, would be a precondition of entry to the forum.

Zarif said on Twitter his "fruitful talks" with Wang amounted to a rejection of "US unilateralism" and had also focused on strategic ties and collaboration on the development of a coronavirus vaccine.

Photo: FPRC

Iran Turns to Asian Allies to Seek Relief from US Sanctions

Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif kicked off his Asian tour in Beijing Monday, presenting a 25-year plan to cement Iran's ties with its biggest Asian trading partner amid biting US sanctions.

Zarif's Asian tour—which also includes stopovers in Japan and Malaysia—comes fresh on the heels of a surprise visit to the G7 summit in France over the weekend.

The summit in Biarritz saw a dramatic shift of focus when Zarif flew in at the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron to discuss the diplomatic deadlock on Tehran's disputed nuclear programme.

Iran's top diplomat didn't meet US President Donald Trump, French diplomats said, but the presence of the two men in the same place at least sparked hopes of detente.

Zarif was a key architect of the 2015 nuclear deal reached between Iran, the United States, European powers, Russia and China.

In Beijing, Zarif met with Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi and said the pair had discussed a 25-year road map to strengthen economic cooperation between the two countries.

China has continued to purchase Iranian crude despite sanctions.

"We reject actions of interference by others in the affairs of progressive countries including Iran and China," China's foreign minister told reporters after the meeting with Zarif.

"We have stood together in dealing with these interventions and interferences and rejecting them as a major threat to international peace and security and friendly relations among countries."

Trump's policy of applying "maximum pressure" on Tehran via crippling sanctions has been criticised by European powers and China and is seen as raising the risk of conflict in the Middle East.

In July, the US government imposed heavy sanctions seeking to hamper Zarif's travel, and effectively banning him from the United States.

Zarif tweeted that he was heading to Japan and Malaysia in the next leg of his Asian tour without offering details.

Photo: Javad Zarif Twitter

China Is Buying Iranian LPG Despite Sanctions, Ship-Tracking Shows

By Saket Sundria and Dan Murtaugh

After being hit by the trade war and U.S. sanctions on Iran, some Chinese buyers of liquefied petroleum gas from the Persian Gulf nation are finding it’s too tough a habit to kick.

China sourced around a fifth of its LPG—used as cooking fuel, in cigarette lighters and to make plastic—from the U.S before Beijing slapped a 25% tariff on the gas last August as the trade tussle heated up. Buyers then turned to Iran, which accounted for around a third of imports in April, before President Donald Trump blocked all energy exports from the country in May.

But some Chinese customers are still buying from Iran, according to Kpler SAS. Based on ship-tracking data, the Paris-based energy researcher estimates that at least five supertankers loaded Iranian LPG in May and June that was destined for China. That would equate to around $100 million of the gas, according to Bloomberg calculations.

“They’ve started using a variety of techniques to hide their activity,” Ilya Niklyaev, an LPG analyst at Kpler, said in an interview. “Like switching off transponders as well as intentionally signaling wrong destinations and indicating loading ports in Qatar, Saudi Arabia or the U.A.E.”

The predicament of the Chinese buyers underscores how the White House’s aggressive trade and foreign policy is disrupting global commodity flows. To avoid running afoul of the U.S. sanctions, LPG importers in Asia’s largest economy would have to turn to more expensive supplies from elsewhere in the Middle East or Africa.

Going Dark

Tankers carrying Iranian oil and gas are notorious for masking their journeys by turning off satellite locator beacons, a technique known as going dark, and transferring fuel between ships to hide the origin of the cargo.

LPG tanker Sea Dolphin sailed into the Persian Gulf between Iran and Qatar with empty tanks on May 17, and then turned off its beacon, Kpler said in a June 6 note. It turned the locator back on May 26, indicating its tanks were now full, and headed toward the Maldives, where it again went dark.

Another ship, the Pacific Yantai, loaded its tanks near where the Sea Dolphin had stopped, and then set sail toward China, according to Kpler. Bloomberg ship-tracking data confirms the movements of the two vessels and show the Pacific Yantai appearing to drop off a partial cargo at Ningbo on June 14.

The Sea Dolphin is owned by Kunlun Trading Co., data compiled by Bloomberg show. Staff who answered the phone at its Hong Kong office said they weren’t authorized to speak to the media and there was no spokesperson. There was no response to emails sent to Kunlun’s investor relations department.

Pacific Yantai is owned by China’s Pacific Gas, Bloomberg-compiled data show. The ship was on a long-term charter, said a staff member at the company’s Shanghai office who asked not to be identified as the person is not authorized to speak to media. The person wouldn’t name the company that chartered the vessel. Nobody answered emails sent to generic addresses for information and investor relations at Pacific Gas.

Oil Imports

Chinese refiners may also be circumventing American sanctions to import Iranian oil, with FGE saying in a note last week that it expects some degree of non-compliance. China probably isn’t complying with U.S. sanctions on Iranian crude, U.S. Deputy Energy Secretary Dan Brouillette said Friday, adding that he didn’t have any hard evidence to show this.

LPG is an important export for Iran. Some 83% of the country’s 507,000 barrels a day of petroleum product shipments in 2017 were LPG and fuel oil, according to Energy Information Administration data. That compared with 2.5 million barrels a day of crude and condensate exports.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi last month pledged to support Tehran’s efforts to safeguard its interests. The country’s Ministry of Commerce and the General Administration of Customs didn’t respond to faxed requests for comment.

China took 346,000 tons, or 80%, of Iran’s LPG exports in May, Kpler estimated. If the cargoes loaded before the end of the U.S. waivers on May 2 they may not have been in contravention of the sanctions. Iran is likely to export a total of 400,000-500,000 tons in June with at least eight supertankers set to load the fuel in coming weeks, Kpler said in the note. Three supertankers have loaded LPG from Iran in June, of which at least one is headed for China, it said.

Kpler and Chinese customs figures show similar overall LPG import data for the past year. But while the Kpler numbers show a sizable portion coming from Iran, the Chinese data has no cargoes from the Persian Gulf nation since mid-2017.

Iranian LPG supplies have been among the cheapest in the world as customers from Japan to South Korea turned away from doing business with the country following the U.S. sanctions. China could turn to other suppliers, like Qatar and Saudi Arabia, but it would be more expensive.

After rising 21% this year through late April, the benchmark east Asian price for propane, a type of LPG, has since fallen 23%, according to data from PVM Oil Associates. The contract traded 3.2% lower on Tuesday at $410.12 a ton.

“While the LPG market isn’t expected to be nearly as tight in the second half of 2019, China will still have to lean heavily on LPG supplies from Iran, as well as from Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria and Angola to fill the gap left behind by the U.S,” said Han Wee Ong, a Singapore-based senior consultant at FGE.

Photo: Wikicommons

China Warns US Against Opening Mideast 'Pandora's Box'

China on Tuesday warned against opening a "Pandora's box" in the Middle East after the United States announced the deployment of 1,000 additional troops to the region amid escalating tensions with Iran.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi also urged Tehran to not abandon the nuclear agreement "so easily" after Iran said it would exceed its uranium stockpile limit if world powers fail to fulfill their commitments under the agreement in 10 days.

The United States ratcheted up pressure on Iran Monday, announcing the deployment of additional troops to the Middle East and producing new photographs it said showed Tehran was behind an attack on a tanker ship in the Gulf of Oman last week.

"We call on all parties to remain rational and restrained, not to take any actions to provoke the escalation of tension in the region, and not to open a Pandora's box," Wang told reporters in Beijing during a joint press conference with visiting Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem.

"In particular, the United States should change its practice of extreme pressure," Wang said.

Tensions between Tehran and Washington have escalated ever since the US quit the nuclear deal and with Washington blacklisting Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization.

Wang urged Iran to "make prudent decisions" and not "so easily abandon" the deal that aims to keep Tehran's nuclear ambitions in check.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani announced on May 8 that Iran would stop observing restrictions on its stocks of enriched uranium and heavy water agreed under the deal, a move he said was in retaliation for the unilateral US withdrawal. 

Tehran on Monday followed through with a 10-day countdown for world powers to fulfil their commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal.

Iran has threatened to go even further in scaling down nuclear commitments by July 8 unless remaining partners to the deal—Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia—help it circumvent US sanctions and especially enable it to sell its oil.

The US responded to the ultimatum by urging the international community not to give in to Iranian "nuclear extortion", while the UN and European states called for cool heads.

"China's determination to safeguard the comprehensive agreement has not changed," Wang said.

“We are willing to work with all parties to continue to make efforts for the full and effective implementation of the agreement."

Wang said China has also "worked closely" with all parties to reconstruct the Arak heavy water reactor at a nuclear plant in the southwest of Tehran.

On Syria, Wang told his visiting counterpart that China "firmly supports Syria's economic reconstruction" and its efforts to "combat terrorism.”

Beijing has in the past teamed up with Moscow to veto any UN proposals to sanction the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

"China has always advocated that the Syrian issue should be resolved through political means," Wang said.

Photo: Kremlin.ru

Iran Urges China, Russia 'Concrete Actions' to Save Nuclear Deal

By Poornima Weerasekara

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Friday urged China and Russia to take "concrete actions" to safeguard the 2015 nuclear deal as he warned of a "dangerous" situation amid escalating tensions with the US.

A stand-off between Tehran and Washington has ratcheted up in recent days, with the US deploying an aircraft carrier group and B-52 bombers to the Gulf last week over alleged threats from Iran.

"Iran and China need to think together and work together about preserving a multilateral global order and avoiding a unilateral global order," Zarif said during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Friday evening.

On Wednesday, the US State Department ordered the evacuation of most personnel from the US embassy and consulate in Iraq over an alleged "imminent" threat from Iraqi militias with close links to Tehran.

With tensions rising, the UK warned British-Iranian dual nationals against all travel to Iran on Friday, citing the recent "arbitrary detention and mistreatment" of such citizens.

British insurer Lloyd's of London has also widened its list of areas in and around the Gulf posing "enhanced risk for marine insurers" after a still-mysterious "attack" on tankers anchored off Fujairah, an Emirati port.

Zarif has called on the international community to save the nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA.

Iran signed the deal with China, Russia, Germany, Britain, France and the United States. International sanctions were eased in return for curbs on Tehran's nuclear program.

But last year, President Donald Trump walked away from the accord. The US has since imposed sweeping sanctions on Iran.

"So far the international community has mostly released statements rather than taking action," Zarif said.

"If the international community and other JCPOA member countries and our friends in the JCPOA like China and Russia want to keep this achievement, it is required that they make sure the Iranian people enjoy the benefits of the JCPOA with concrete actions," he added.

The White House has sent mixed signals about its intentions in recent days

In a Friday tweet, Trump lambasted the media for what he said was its "fraudulent and highly inaccurate coverage of Iran", amid multiple US reports of infighting in Trump's cabinet over how hard to push Tehran.

'Maximum Pressure'

Zarif said last week that only Russia and China had supported Iran and helped it keep the nuclear deal going, and accused other parties to the agreement of letting Tehran down.

China was one of the eight global buyers—India, Turkey, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Italy and Greece—that was allowed to import Iranian crude oil before the US ended waivers in early May.

 Zarif's China trip comes after visits to Turkmenistan, India and Japan in the past week.

Despite Washington's campaign of "maximum pressure" against Iran, the Islamic Republic has vowed to keep selling oil to its main customers, especially China, even if it requires using indirect means.

On May 8, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Iran would stop observing restrictions on stocks of enriched uranium and heavy water agreed under the nuclear deal in retaliation for the US withdrawal and the reimposition of sanctions.

In his announcement, Rouhani threatened to go further if the European members of the deal failed to start delivering on their promises to help Iran circumvent US sanctions within 60 days.

China in response called on all parties to uphold the nuclear deal in what it called a "shared responsibility.”

European nations have also called on all partners to the deal to help salvage it while expressing frustration at Iran's demands for help in circumventing US sanctions.

One European diplomat called on China to buy Iranian oil as it is less exposed to the United States.

"They are now very exposed to the dollar but it is also a question of political choice," said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"The reality for the Chinese is that they are in a global trade war with the Americans, they are in the middle of negotiations and they are not quite so sure if they want to load the boat," the diplomat added.

Photo: IRNA

Iran FM Hopeful of Forging 'Clear Future' for Nuclear Deal on Diplomatic Tour

Iran's foreign minister said Sunday he was hopeful of forging a "clear future design" for the nuclear deal facing collapse after Washington's withdrawal, at the start of a diplomatic tour aimed at rescuing the agreement.

"We hope that with this visit to China and other countries we will be able to construct a clear future design for the comprehensive agreement," Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters after talks in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi.

Zarif will later fly to Moscow and Brussels to consult the remaining signatories to the 2015 agreement denounced by US President Donald Trump.

Washington's decision to withdraw from the deal and reimpose sanctions angered its European allies as well as China and Russia.

But on Sunday US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington was keen to hammer out a new agreement with its European partners to counter Tehran's "malign behavior."

China was one of the six powers -- with the United States, Russia, France, the UK and Germany—that signed the historic pact, which saw sanctions lifted in return for the commitment by Tehran not to acquire nuclear weapons. 

As he arrived in Beijing, Zarif said Tehran was "ready for all option(s)," according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

"If the nuclear deal is to continue, the interests of the people of Iran must be assured," he added.

After their meeting, Zarif and Wang hailed the "comprehensive strategic partnership" between their countries, with the Chinese minister saying: "I hope and believe that these visits to multiple countries will... help protect Iran's legitimate national interests and peace and stability in the region."

Tehran's chief diplomat embarked on the tour as regional tensions spiked just days after unprecedented Israeli strikes in Syria which a monitor said killed at least 11 Iranian pro-regime fighters, triggering fears of a broader conflict between the two arch-enemies.

'Extremist Administration'

Before leaving, Zarif published a government statement on his Twitter page, slamming Trump's "extremist administration" for abandoning "an accord recognized as a victory of diplomacy by the international community."

It reiterated that Iran was preparing to resume "industrial scale" uranium enrichment "without any restrictions" unless Europe provided solid guarantees it could maintain trade ties despite renewed US sanctions.

Trump shot back, claiming in a tweet on Saturday that Tehran had exploited the lifting of sanctions to bolster its military and increased its defense spending by 40 percent since 2015, when the pact was agreed. 

Washington's top diplomat Pompeo later said the US was looking to thrash out a new wide-ranging deal with Europe "that achieves the outcomes that protect America".

"I'm hopeful in the days and weeks ahead we can come up with a deal that really works, that really protects the world from Iranian bad behavior, not just their nuclear program, but their missiles and their malign behavior as well," Pompeo told Fox News Sunday.

"And I will work closely with the Europeans to try and achieve that."

But European diplomats in Tehran fumed that Washington's withdrawal could undermine years of patient work to restore commercial and diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic.

"Since the signing of the JCPOA (nuclear deal), we have gone from an atmosphere like a gold rush, to one of utter depression," said a Western trade diplomat on condition of anonymity. 

"We are waiting now for how the decision-makers in the European Union will react. If the EU leans towards accommodating the US, all the progress we have made since 2015 will be lost."

Iran Hardliners Fight Back

Iranian hardliners—who have long opposed President Hassan Rouhani's moves to improve ties with the West—are already mobilizing against the efforts to save the nuclear deal.

Mohammad Ali Jafari, head of the Revolutionary Guards, said the country could not rely on the West. 

"We hope recent events will lead us not to trust in the West and even Europeans," he said Sunday, according to the conservative-linked Fars news agency.

"The Europeans have repeated on several occasions that they will not be able to resist US sanctions."

The sentiment was echoed on the streets. "Officials shouldn't trust France and Britain. They will never abandon the US for us," said housewife Poormoslem at a protest against Trump on Friday.

A photo on the official Instagram site of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei showed him reading a Farsi translation of Michael Wolff's blistering account of the Trump White House, "Fire and Fury", quickly picking up more than 100,000 likes. 

Khamenei said last week he was highly doubtful that Europe would provide the "real guarantees" needed for Iran to stay in the nuclear deal. 

But analysts said Iran was determined to maintain the moral high ground in the coming weeks.

"For the first time, Iran has the chance to show the world they are not the rogue nation they are always presented as, that they negotiated in good faith and keep to their commitments," said Karim Emile Bitar of the Institute for International and Strategic Studies in Paris.

Photo Credit: CCTV News