The former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. (AP Photo)
Because of their economic and energy ties with Iran, in an interview with C-SPAN, Clinton said China and India could exert influence on Tehran. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced a fresh round of sanctions targeting Iran and warned countries doing business with the Islamic Republic to sever their financial ties or face US retaliation.
Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said India and China could play a key role in helping resolve the escalating Iran crisis, urging President Donald Trump to pursue “diplomacy instead of bluster”. “If you want to figure out how Trump could get out of this, I think the key to it is probably China and India, because if you look at who buys the most oil and gas from Iran, it’s China and India,” Clinton said. Clinton said China, in particular, could use its position as one of Iran’s biggest oil and gas buyers to pressure Tehran over the ongoing crisis. “China is far ahead of that; they have been banking a lot of fossil fuels they got in tankers … they have been building more reserves … but they are going to need Iran,” she said. “It does seem to me that’s where the best pressure would come from if Trump were willing to actually use diplomacy instead of bluster,” she said.
Clinton’s remarks came as the Trump administration intensified economic pressure on Tehran.