Bessent says China’s Iranian oil purchases have decreased

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Tuesday that there has been a substantial decrease in China’s purchases of Iranian oil.

“We have sanctioned Chinese … so-called teapot refineries, which are the private refineries, and we’ve seen a substantial decrease in their purchases of Iranian oil,” Bessent said in an interview with Fox Business Network.

“The Chinese, in general, because of the prices and because they have a very large strategic petroleum reserve, have dropped their purchases of crude over the past few months by about 40 percent, and that’s directly pressuring the Iranian regime,” Bessent said.