US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed during a White House meeting on Wednesday that America would step up economic pressure on Iran, according to a new report.
The talks focused mainly on pushing Iran to cut down its oil exports to China, Axios said, citing two US officials familiar with the matter.
“We agreed that we will go full force with maximum pressure against Iran, for example, regarding Iranian oil sales to China,” one of the officials told the media outlet.
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Why US, Israel want to pressure Iran over China oil exports
China purchases more than 80% of Iran’s seaborne oil, according to 2025 figures from analytics firm Kpler. Due to US sanctions aimed at blocking funding for Tehran’s nuclear programme, Iranian oil has very few buyers.
Data shows that China bought an average of 1.38 million barrels of Iranian oil per day last year. This accounted for roughly 13.4% of the 10.27 million bpd of crude it imported by sea.
Beijing opposes unilateral sanctions and says its trade dealings with Iran are lawful. Oil shipped from Iran to China is often described by traders as coming from other nations, including Malaysia, a key transhipment hub, and Indonesia, news agency Reuters reported. Chinese customs figures have shown no Iranian oil imports since July 2022.
Increasing pressure on Iran to scale back exports to China could alter Tehran’s position and lead it to offer more concessions on its nuclear programme.
US officials say the maximum pressure drive will run alongside nuclear negotiations with Iran and the continued military build-up in the Middle East in case diplomacy does not succeed, Axios reported.
An executive order signed by Trump 10 days ago allows Washington to step up economic action against Iran. Under this order, the secretary of state and the secretary of commerce can suggest that the president place tariffs of as much as 25% on any country that trades with Iran.
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Tensions continue to build up between Iran, US
Iran and the United States are set to hold a second round of discussions next week about Tehran’s nuclear programme, Switzerland’s foreign ministry said on Saturday. After the first round, Trump warned Tehran that failure to strike a deal with his administration would be “very traumatic.”
Trump has repeatedly said he could use force to make Iran accept limits on its nuclear programme. Iran has warned it would retaliate with an attack of its own. Trump has also threatened Iran over its violent suppression of recent nationwide protests.
On Friday, Trump said that the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, was being deployed from the Caribbean to the Middle East to join other US military assets already stationed there. He also said a change in leadership in Iran “would be the best thing that could happen.”
Iran maintains its nuclear programme is peaceful. Still, officials there have increasingly warned they could move towards developing a nuclear weapon. Before the June war, Iran had enriched uranium to 60% purity, which is a short technical step from weapons-grade level.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has said his country is “ready for any kind of verification.” Yet the United Nations nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has for months been unable to inspect and confirm Iran’s nuclear stockpile.
With inputs from agencies
