Press TV - The Islamic Republic of Iran stands in the way of the United States totally dominating the Middle East, according to American political analyst Keith Preston.

Preston, chief editor of AttacktheSystem.com, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Saturday while commenting on a Bloomberg report which has revealed that China has rejected a US demand to cut Iranian oil imports despite Washington’s attempts to bring down the Islamic Republic's oil sales to zero

Bloomberg quoted informed officials as saying that the US had been unable to persuade China to cut Iranian oil imports and that Beijing's purchases from Tehran last month remained unchanged.

This is a blow to US President Donald Trump’s efforts to isolate Iran after his withdrawal from a 2015 nuclear deal with the country, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), they said.

Beijing, however, agreed not to increase purchases of Iranian crude, said the officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Preston said that “it appears that what is happening is that the United States is trying to increase the amount of international pressure that is exercised against Iran in particular isolate Iran and impose even stronger economic pressure by trying to prevent Iran by selling oil to China.”

“The United States is doing this because the United States regards Iran as its primary obstacle when it comes to expanding American influence in the Middle East and the influence of America’s chief allies which would be Saudi Arabia and Israel,” he noted.

“In fact recently the Trump administration in the United States has come out in favor of forming what they call an Arab NATO, that is kind of a military alliance of Arab nations in the Middle East that would be similar to the NATO alliance in Europe, including in this would be the six members of the [Persian] Gulf Cooperation Council as well Egypt and Jordan, which are the only two nations which have actually recognized Israel,” the analyst stated.

“So it’s clear that the United States is trying to strengthen its own position and that of its allies in the region,” he said.

“Iran is the most powerful nation in the Middle East at present that has refused to be incorporated into Washington’s consensus. Not only that, but the de facto alliance between Russia, Syria, Iran, Hezbollah and some other forces has emerged as well in opposition to Israeli expansionism in the region, also in opposition to the terrorism that is being fomented by the [Persian] Gulf states,” Preston noted.