When are we going to realize sanctions aren’t going to work? Russia & China won’t allow tough sanctions and are working against the current ones. Here’s China’s latest move…

China Boosts Gas Sales to Iran, Irks U.S.

Reports emerging over the last two days suggest China is increasing its gasoline exports to Iran. The state-owned China National Petroleum Corp.’s trading unit, ChinaOil, shipped two cargoes totaling 600,000 barrels of gasoline direct to Iran for $55 million, according to Reuters. Meanwhile, the trading unit of the China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (Sinopec), Unipec, reportedly agreed to sell 250,000 barrels to Iran. The barrels reportedly would have been loaded for shipment April 15 through a third party in Singapore.

Though the exports would seem to thwart U.S. efforts to isolate Iran, Beijing is wary that defying Washington on Iran could provoke retaliation it is unable to handle.

The reports come as Washington is accelerating both unilateral and multilateral efforts to impose sanctions on Iran over its nuclear program. Multilateral sanctions proposals have been diluted and caught up at the United Nations. But the United States has continued to proceed on the unilateral front. The U.S. Treasury Department has pressured firms to cut back on their trade with Iran — especially gasoline exports, as Iran imports about 40 percent of its gasoline — or risk damaging their prospects for U.S. business.