February 14 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed at a White House meeting on Wednesday that the United States would work to reduce Iranian oil exports to China, Axios reported, citing two U.S. officials with knowledge of the matter.
Axios quoted a senior U.S. official as saying on Saturday: “We agreed that we will be fully committed to applying maximum pressure on Iran, for example, in relation to the sale of Iranian oil to China.”
Asked about the report, China’s Foreign Ministry said on Sunday that “normal cooperation between countries within the framework of international law is reasonable and legal and should be respected and protected.”
China accounts for more than 80% of Iran’s oil exports. Any reduction in trade means less oil revenue for Iran.
U.S. and Iranian diplomats held talks last week through Omani mediators over Iran’s nuclear program in an effort to revive diplomacy, as the U.S. president deployed a naval fleet to the region and the U.S. military prepared for possible weeks-long operations against Iran.
(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein in Los Angeles; Additional reporting by Che Pan and Ryan Woo in Beijing; Editing by Sergio Non and Diane Craft)
