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Public Indications
"There have not been any public indications from Chinese officials or oil executives that they intend to reduce oil purchases to support U.S. sanctions," she said in an interview from Shanghai. "It would be difficult for the Obama administration to justify an exemption for China at a time when China's crude imports from Iran are rising, even if they are still below last year's average."
Mark Dubowitz, director of the Iran Energy Project at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, said in an interview that China might still earn an exemption.
Dubowitz, who has advised the administration and Congress about sanctions, said it's his understanding that if China extracts deep discounts from Iran on the crude it buys from the Persian Gulf state, it might get a waiver for helping to achieve the end-goal of the sanctions: depriving Iran of its main source of revenue.
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