Beijing is reportedly exerting pressure on Iran privately, urging them not to attack oil tankers and liquid natural gas ships in order to safeguard China’s imports, according to Bloomberg’s report on Tuesday, March 3rd.
Worried about potential disruptions in energy imports due to Iran’s retaliatory actions, a spokesperson from the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Mao Ning, called for ensuring the safety of the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday and Wednesday (March 4th), urging all parties to cease military operations to avoid impacting global energy supplies.
Following the joint military strikes on Iran by the United States and Israel over the past weekend, Iran has escalated attacks on ships passing through the critical energy passage of the Strait of Hormuz. The shipping traffic in this key energy corridor has nearly come to a standstill after Iran targeted six vessels.
The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow passage between Iran and Oman, serves as a vital chokepoint through which a fifth of the world’s crude oil and liquefied natural gas must pass.
Blocking the Strait of Hormuz has long been one of Iran’s primary retaliatory objectives. The Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has threatened to “set fire to any ship trying to pass through,” while Iranian officials vowed to “not allow a drop of oil to flow out of the region.”
Bloomberg cited statements from executives of Chinese state-owned natural gas companies on Tuesday, indicating that Beijing has been pressuring Iranian officials behind the scenes, urging them to refrain from taking any actions that could disrupt Qatar’s natural gas exports or other energy transport passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
According to the report, some executives of Chinese state-owned enterprises who have been briefed by the government officials revealed that Chinese authorities are pressuring senior Iranian officials to ensure that Tehran does not attack oil and LNG transportation vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz but allow the unobstructed flow of goods.
Furthermore, these Chinese executives also noted that Iranian officials were instructed to avoid targeting key export hubs like Qatar. Qatar supplies 30% of China’s liquefied natural gas, a significant proportion even when considering the volumes transported through pipelines and other channels.
On Wednesday (March 4th), videos began circulating on social media platforms and YouTube showing Iran only allowing Chinese vessels to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, but there has been no official confirmation of this development yet.