The Wall Street Journal | Bill Spindle and Anant Vijay Kala: The Trump administration’s effort to pressure Iran depends on countries deeply skeptical of the U.S. campaign against the Islamic Republic, creating resistance that analysts and officials in those countries say could undercut one critical element of the push: curtailing Iran’s oil exports.

The renewed U.S. targeting of Iran’s economy comes after President Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. last month from a landmark deal in which Iran limited its nuclear program in return for restored business and financial ties with the rest of the world. The other parties to the accord—including the European Union and China, which have begun developing extensive dealings with Iran—opposed the U.S. withdrawal and are trying to maintain the deal.


The last time the U.S. ramped up the pressure on Iran, the Obama administration’s targeting of the Islamic Republic’s oil sales was a critical tool in disrupting Iran’s economy and pushing its leadership toward the agreement to restrict its nuclear program.

Iran came to the negotiating table in 2015 only after its most reliable customers had slashed their oil purchases across the board. European buyers cut back aggressively and voluntarily. Japan and South Korea, close allies of the U.S. that shared its concerns about Iran’s nuclear program, reduced their imports of Iranian oil under U.S. pressure. India, Iran’s second-biggest buyer, refused to acknowledge U.S. sanctions as legitimate, but nonetheless reduced purchases enough to placate the U.S.

Even China, Iran’s best customer then and now, bought less Iranian oil, even as it decried the unilateral U.S. sanctions and vowed to defy them.

 


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