Posted on 12/05/2007 7:03:37 PM PST by DeaconBenjamin
US pressure on Beijing to impose financial sanctions on Tehran over its nuclear programme is showing signs of yielding results, with Iranians who import goods from China complaining about restrictions on trade.
Banks that had routinely opened letters of credit to underwrite trade with China "now refuse to do so", a Tehran-based businessman told the Financial Times on Wednesday.
The Iran-China Chamber of Commerce has sent a delegation to Beijing to discuss the issue with banking officials. China is Iran's biggest trading partner.
"Chinese banks have become very nervous and are reluctant to deal with Iran directly," said a second businessman. "They prefer to work with Iranians who import goods to Iran through Dubai to pretend they export goods to UAE rather than Iran."
But the US pressure has had no impact on Iran's big-ticket exports to China, such as oil, petrochemicals and minerals.
The tightening of trade credit comes just weeks after the visit to Beijing of Stuart Levey, the US Treasury under-secretary responsible for terrorism and financial intelligence.
Mr Levey briefed Chinese officials and state banks in November on successful US efforts to persuade some European institutions to stop doing business with Iran in the hope that Beijing might join in the sanctions.
The Chinese were warned that Iranian businesses used a variety of front companies to get around United Nations sanctions.
China Construction Bank, the Bank of China and the Agricultural Bank of China, three of China's biggest banks, denied any knowledge of new restrictions on dealing with Iran.
However, a senior regulatory official said the sanctions against its nuclear programme was a "serious issue" for local financial institutions, while declining to provide further information.
US pressure on European companies has led to a decline in their trade with Iran, giving more room to China to increase its exports to the country.
It is estimated that the two countries' official trade will reach at least $17bn in the year to March 20. The figure excludes billions of dollars of Chinese goods re-exported to Iran through Dubai.
Analysts say such restrictions would make trade more difficult and costly for Iran's private sector but doubt they threaten the bulk of Iran's trade with China.
If the Chi-Coms and the radical Islamists say it’s true then it absolutely must be true. We only need radical Clintonist U.S. government employees to swear to it to make it official and a story that the MSM employees will rave about for weeks and weeks.
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