China Defies U.S. Iranian Oil Sanctions
April 23rd, 2019 - China's foreign minister, Geng Shaun, has issued a statement expressing China's discontent with Donald Trump's tariff threats on Iran oil. He stated, "China opposes the unilateral sanctions and the so called 'long arm jurisdictions' proposed by the US. Our cooperation with Iran is open, transparent, lawful, and legitimate, thus, it should be respected." This comes just a day after the U.S. announced that it is set to remove tariff protections for many countries on May 2nd. China's retaliation to the U.S. announcement could mark the start of another trade war between the two countries unless one of them back down. However, it is good news for Iran which is both anti-U.S. in foreign policy and will continue to profit from Chinese oil purchases.
Source - Vengar, Rishi. “China Buys a Lot of Iranian Oil, and It's Not Happy at All with US Sanctions.” CNN, Cable News Network, 22 Apr. 2019, www.cnn.com/2019/04/22/energy/china-iran-oil-us-sanctions/index.html.
Source - Vengar, Rishi. “China Buys a Lot of Iranian Oil, and It's Not Happy at All with US Sanctions.” CNN, Cable News Network, 22 Apr. 2019, www.cnn.com/2019/04/22/energy/china-iran-oil-us-sanctions/index.html.
Iran Passes Bill through parliament that declares U.S. military a terrorist group
April 23rd, 2019 - Iranian media is reporting that the Parliament has just passed a bill declaring the entire U.S. military a terrorist group. The bill passed with support from 173 of 215 parliament members and is in response to U.S. president Donald Trumps designation of the Iran Nation Guard Corps as a terrorist group.
Source - “Iranian Parliament Passes Bill to Label US Military as Terrorist.” News18, News18, 23 Apr. 2019, www.news18.com/news/world/iranian-parliament-passes-bill-to-label-us-military-as-terrorist-2113897.html.
Source - “Iranian Parliament Passes Bill to Label US Military as Terrorist.” News18, News18, 23 Apr. 2019, www.news18.com/news/world/iranian-parliament-passes-bill-to-label-us-military-as-terrorist-2113897.html.
Donald Trump Threatens Sanctions on Countries buying iranian oil
April 22nd, 2019 - U.S. Donald Trump has decided to end exemptions on many European and Asian countries that were immune from U.S. sanctions. This would allow U.S. government officials to put tariffs on countries that purchase oil from Iran. This decision was made by the President with the goal of further crippling Iran's economy, which has recently seen its currency reach record lows and its inflation rate quadruple. Questions that remains about this decision is will China defy the U.S. and continue to buy Iranian oil, and if they do will the U.S. risk a trade war by putting economic sanctions on China?
Source - “US to End Sanctions Exemptions for Major Iranian Oil Importers.” BBC News, BBC, 22 Apr. 2019, www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-48011496.
Source - “US to End Sanctions Exemptions for Major Iranian Oil Importers.” BBC News, BBC, 22 Apr. 2019, www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-48011496.
Global Executions fall by 31% Due to new iranian laws
April 9th, 2019 - The Amnesty report, released on April 3rd, showed that global executions had been reduced by 31% in the past year, causing them to fall to the lowest level in a decade. Excluding China which doesn't release reports on capital punishment, 690 people were executed worldwide in 2018. In comparison 993 were executed in 2017. This is attributed to a fall of 50% capital punishment cases in Iran due to it being abolished for many drug related cases. View the full statistics in the graphs below.
Source - “Global Executions Fall to Lowest Level in a Decade, Amnesty Says.” BBC News, BBC, 10 Apr. 2019, www.bbc.com/news/world-47867201?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/cjnwl8q4ggwt/iran&link_location=live-reporting-story.
Source - “Global Executions Fall to Lowest Level in a Decade, Amnesty Says.” BBC News, BBC, 10 Apr. 2019, www.bbc.com/news/world-47867201?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/topics/cjnwl8q4ggwt/iran&link_location=live-reporting-story.