US President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to intensify the “maximum pressure policy” in order to force Iran to give up its nuclear program, including clamping down on the sale of Tehran’s oil to China, according to a Saturday report citing two US officials.
At the two leaders’ meeting at the White House earlier this week, “We agreed that we will go full force with maximum pressure against Iran, for example, regarding Iranian oil sales to China,” a senior American official told Axios.
According to the report, some 80 percent of Iran’s oil exports go to China, leading the US and Israel to believe that clamping down on trade between the two countries would “significantly” increase economic pressure on Tehran. Trump, under authority by an executive order he signed last week, could impose 25% tariffs on China for trading with Iran. The pressure campaign will be implemented alongside the ongoing negotiations between Washington and Tehran, the report said. (Read More)
