Trump’s Iran blockade isn’t just about Tehran, it’s about China |
Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit
ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures
Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story
More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice
Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit
ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures
Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story
More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice
Trump’s Iran blockade isn’t just about Tehran, it’s about China
The oil math is skewed against the White House. The blockade has a slim chance of working. Iran can remain defiant, and China unconcerned, longer than Trump can remain solvent.
The black market for Iranian oil wouldn’t exist without China. Before the Iran war began, Beijing bought 95% of all the crude Tehran shipped via a network of sanctioned tankers, mysterious traders and shadowy financial links. Hence, President Donald Trump isn’t just targeting Tehran with his blockade of the Strait of Hormuz — he’s aiming at Beijing, too.
On Monday, the US said vessels in Iranian waters would be subject to “interception, diversion and capture.” If its navy enforces a blockade on ships entering and departing Iranian ports and coastal areas east of the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf of Oman and Arabian Sea, Tehran won’t be able to export a single barrel of oil. The calculus in Washington appears twofold: First, impose an intolerable economic cost on Iran; second, force China to share some of the pain. If Beijing has more at stake, perhaps it will put pressure on Tehran to negotiate, or so the theory goes. The oil math, however, is daunting.
Tehran must surely have assumed its oil exports would be halted during a war with the US, especially if it closed the Strait of Hormuz. But........