AMERICA IS BLOCKADING IRAN BUT TOO SCARED TO TOUCH CHINA AND IRAN IS SELLING 1.2 MILLION BARRELS A DAY
The United States has imposed a naval blockade on Iran. American warships are in the Gulf. Sanctions are being escalated. Pete Hegseth says America controls the Strait of Hormuz.
And China is buying 1.2 million barrels of Iranian oil per day. Barely changed from last year.
The New York Times has confirmed what the economics always made obvious. The blockade has a China-shaped hole in it.
Iranian oil moves through ship-to-ship transfers near Malaysia. Payments happen in Chinese currency or cryptocurrency. The trail is deliberately complicated. And Washington knows all of this is happening.
It is choosing not to stop it.
Why? Because Xi Jinping is expected to visit the United States next month. Sanctioning major Chinese banks and financial institutions would collapse the fragile US-China truce at the worst possible moment.
America went to war with Iran to stop its economy and force policy change. China decided Iran’s oil was worth buying. America decided the US-China relationship was worth more than the Iran blockade.
So Iran keeps selling. China keeps buying. The blockade leaks 1.2 million barrels every single day. And the countries that stopped buying Iranian oil because of American sanctions are paying higher energy prices while China gets discounted crude.
This is what maximum pressure looks like when the country you are pressuring has a friend powerful enough to make you blink.
The sanctions are real for everyone except the buyer America cannot afford to sanction.
How does Iran lose an economic war when its largest customer is untouchable?