China Buys Iranian Oil—Not Iran’s Wars

Beijing supports Tehran when the price is manageable, but the threat of US sanctions exposes the limits of their unequal partnership

By Elijah J. Magnier –

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has placed China at the centre of Washington’s expanding economic campaign against Iran. Referring on 6 September to Iranian crude reportedly sent towards China, he signalled that further US action could follow on 8 September. The precise targets had not been announced at the time of writing. Any new measures are more likely to concern Chinese refiners, banks, shipping companies or intermediaries involved in Iranian oil transactions than sanctions against China as a state. Nevertheless, the threat creates an unusually clear test: how much economic and diplomatic risk is Beijing prepared to absorb to preserve Tehran’s remaining oil trade?

The answer will reveal the character of the relationship more accurately than declarations of strategic solidarity. China is Iran’s largest trading partner, principal oil customer and most important diplomatic shield at the United Nations Security Council. Beijing rejects unilateral American sanctions and maintains that its commerce with Tehran is legitimate. Yet it has provided no security guarantee, withheld most of the investment once associated with the two countries’ 25-year cooperation agreement and avoided direct involvement in Iran’s war with the United States and Israel.

The evidence does not establish that China has abandoned Iran. It points instead to a colder conclusion: Beijing regards Tehran as a useful strategic partner, but not as an ally for whose defence it will subordinate its relations with Washington, Moscow or the Arab Gulf states.