Iranian Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi heads to China Wednesday seeking new investments in the country's energy sector, including funding for new refineries, a report said Tuesday.
Iranian Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi heads to
China
Wednesday
seeking new investments in the country's energy sector, including funding for new
refineries, a report said Tuesday.
The oil ministry's news agency Shana reported that
Beijing
has
expressed its desire to invest in the refining sector, an area where
Iran
is
still not self-reliant.
In its drive to tighten sanctions against
Iran
, the
U.S.
has
targeted its energy and downstream oil sector in particular, given that
Tehran
is
the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries' second largest crude
exporter but still imports around 40% of its gasoline requirements.
In recent years
Beijing
has
emerged as
Iran
's
main economic partner, filling the gaps in the country's energy sector left by
Western firms forced out by international sanctions.
China
is
already investing $40 billion in
Iran
's oil
and gas industry, deputy oil minister Hossein Noqrehkar Shirazi said Saturday.
China
backed the fourth set of United Nations sanctions against
Iran
over
its nuclear ambition, but
Beijing
has
consistently urged the world powers to resolve the crisis diplomatically.
Friday, it opposed the latest unilateral sanctions on
Iran
imposed by the European Union, which are also designed to strike at the vital
energy sector, as well as its banking and transport segments.
A senior
U.S.
lawmaker meanwhile called for imposing sanctions on
China
and
Russia
too
for investing in
Iran
's
energy sector.
"It's time to implement our sanctions laws and demonstrate to
Russia
and
China
that
there are consequences for abetting
Tehran
and
flouting
U.S.
sanctions," Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen said in a statement.
Ros-Lehtinen, the top Republican on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said
firms run by the Russian and Chinese governments had invested "huge
sums" in
Iran
's
energy sector, "effectively bankrolling"
Tehran
's
alleged nuclear weapons program and its backing of Islamist groups.
"
Russia
and
China
appear determined to continue to facilitate
Iran
's
dangerous policies. This must not be allowed to continue without serious
repercussions," she said.
Her comments came as a top U.S. State Department official, Robert Einhorn, was
on a trip to
Asia
set to include a stop in
Beijing
to
press
China
to
fully enforce sanctions on
Iran
.
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