In a sudden twist in Washington’s policy about Iran, US President Donald Trump made an unexpected announcement on June 24 shortly after declaring a ceasefire between Iran and Israel after nearly two weeks of air strikes and missile attacks.
The announcement on social media – which surprised oil traders – landed only hours after the Iran-Israel warring arch enemies had agreed to a ceasefire, which got off to a shaky start with early breaches by both sides.
President Trump shared a post on his social media platform Truth Social, which read, “China can now continue to purchase Oil from Iran.”
“Hopefully, they will be purchasing plenty from the U.S., also. It was my Great Honor to make this happen!” Trump added earlier on Tuesday.
The comments came after the US president claimed credit for arranging a ceasefire between Israel and Iran, and hours after he lashed out at both countries, particularly Israel, for violating the arrangement.
“Israel. Do not drop those bombs. If you do it is a major violation. Bring your pilots home, Now!” he said.
Trump asked yesterday during a press briefing if he is giving up on his “maximum pressure campaign”, in reference to the fact that he said on Monday China will continue to buy oil from Iran.
Trump said reporters that he has not given up and that Iran needs to be put “back into shape”.
US officials handling Iranian oil sanctions were surprised by Trump’s statement and uncertain how to immediately interpret it.
US State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce declined to provide further specifics during a briefing Tuesday.
“I’m not going to get ahead of the President or try to guess at what his strategy will be, but it will be one that will benefit this country and that, again, he is very clear,” she said when asked about the comment. “I think the difference is, obviously, sometimes you don’t hear ahead of time about the trajectory of a president.”
Tammy Bruce told reporters that Trump had signalled what he wanted to happen and that his administration is focused on delivering that. The spokesperson would not say what the process would entail.
“The President has signalled what he expects, what he is looking forward to. This is a cabinet and a government that acts to the nature of what he says and what he wants, and in this case, of course, I’m not going to discuss what that process will be, the nature of any of the applications via the various departments in this government. But clearly, we are focused on making sure that guiding hand of President Trump prevails and moves this government forward, so we will have to wait and see when it comes to what that ends up looking like.”
Guo Jiakun, a spokesperson for China’s foreign ministry, said on Wednesday that China would adopt reasonable energy supply measures in accordance with its own national interests, when asked about the Trump post at a regular press briefing.
The reversal comes as US trade negotiators are engaged in talks with China to try to resolve some of the issues in the trade war between the countries. China has repeatedly criticised US sanctions, which it says are an effort to undermine the Chinese economy.
