TEHRAN – China has rejected the new sanctions announced by the U.S. Treasury Department against Iran and urged Washington to abandon the wrong practice of resorting to sanctions, Mehr News Agency reported.

In his regular Press Conference on Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian reacted to the new sanctions announced by the United States on Wednesday against a group of Chinese, Emirati, and other companies that it accused of helping Iran to deliver and sell its oil petroleum and petrochemical products to East Asia.

"China has always been firmly opposed to illegal and unjustifiable unilateral sanctions and so-called long-arm jurisdiction by the U.S. We urge the U.S. side to abandon the wrong practice of resorting to sanctions at every turn and contribute positively to negotiations on resuming compliance with the JCPOA,” the official said.

“The international community, including China, has conducted normal cooperation with Iran within the framework of international law. This is reasonable and lawful without harm done to any third party, and deserves to be respected and protected," Zhao Lijian added.

While China has been making sporadic official imports of Iranian oil, its private refineries have also been buying large amounts of Iranian oil over the past two years despite the United States' sanctions on its oil exports.

Iran delivered a shipment of nearly two million barrels of crude oil to China’s southern Zhanjiang port in early June.

According to shipping tracking specialist Vortexa Analytics, the 260,000-ton cargo, carried by vessel Dorena which is owned by the National Iranian Tanker Company (NITC) is said to be destined for state reserves.

The arrival of the new shipment indicates that Iranian crude oil exports to China have been continuing in large volumes despite claims that the increased Russian supply of crude to China has affected Iranian shipments.

The said cargo would be the fourth such shipment designated for state reserves since last December.

EF/MA