Timothy Birdnow

It looks as if Trump may have the Chinese on board with his plans to boycott Iranian oil. According to the Washington Times:

"Beijing has long vowed to defy the revived U.S. sanctions, but this week a key Chinese export-finance bank and the country’s largest state oil refineries indicated that they were pulling back from their business with Tehran. China is Iran’s single biggest oil customer, and a drawback by Beijing would be a major victory for the U.S. pressure campaign.

Countries that opposed Mr. Trump’s decision on the nuclear deal vowed to defy U.S. secondary sanctions targeting their companies that continue to trade with Iran. But as in Europe, the prospect of losing access to the much-bigger U.S. economy and financial system has apparently forced Chinese officials to recalculate.

"China’s major firms are not just invested in Iran but other countries as well,” said Riley Walters, a policy analysts at The Heritage Foundation’s Asian Studies Center. "They have much more to lose if they are subject to sanctions, which is why you see the majors starting to pull out.”

End excerpt.

If Trump can reimpose sanctions the psychological blow to Iran will be devastating; they finally got them relieved under Obama, and now to face them again will likely lead to terrible discontent in the terror kingdom. There is nothing more devastating than unmet rising expectations. Hopelessness can be endured, but aborted hope is crushing. Should Trump pull this off he may well trigger a revolution in Iran.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 10:41 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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