China has criticized new U.S. sanctions against Zhuhai Zhenrong, China’s largest exporter of petroleum products to Iran.
Reuters reports that a spokesman for China’s Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that it’s not logical to slap sanctions on a Chinese company on the basis of a domestic U.S. law, nor does it correspond to the UN resolution regarding Iran’s nuclear program.
China expressed “dissatisfaction and firm opposition” to the U.S. decision regarding Zhuhai Zhenrong.
China had previously denounced recent U.S. sanctions against Iran’s Central Bank.
On January 13, the U.S. announced sanctions against three international companies for their dealings with Iran, including the Chinese company Zhuhai Zhenrong. The three companies are banned from dealing with the United States and are barred from receiving loans from U.S. banks.
The U.S. has justified its sanctions as a way to stop Iran from building nuclear military capacity. Iran insists, however, that it has no military ambitions behind its nuclear activities.
