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Germany, China, France, Great Britain and Russia, signatories to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, in Vienna in the presence of Iran's top diplomat Javad Zarif, on July 6, 2018. REUTERS / Leonhard Foeger

This is a first in the case between the United States and Iran. On Friday morning, July 19, the Chinese authorities announced that they have officially protested to the US authorities for the sanctions against Chinese companies accused of belonging to a supply network for the Iranian nuclear program. A first from China, also a signatory of the Iran nuclear deal with Russia, France, Germany and Great Britain. An agreement from which the United States came out, which has since provoked an escalation of tensions in the Gulf region.

This is a move that was certainly expected by the other countries that signed the Iran nuclear deal. By announcing that it has officially protested to Washington, the Chinese authorities seem to have decided to take part in the efforts undertaken by the other European signatories of this agreement to find a way out of this conflict.

China protests and calls for, among other things, the lifting of US sanctions that put an end to exemptions for oil delivery. Until April 22, eight countries, including China, but also India and Japan, could still buy Iranian oil.

But since that date and the lifting of these exemptions, these countries are housed in the same way as the rest of the world. Deliveries that represented one and a half million barrels of oil a day.

France , which has multiplied its last weeks initiatives to try to approximate positions, sees perhaps the emergence of a partner in this perspective. According to the French authorities, the goal is to pause in this crisis and to obtain gestures from each party so that eventually Iranians and Americans are able to discuss.

Beijing to protest officially for the first time. Rest in Washington now to answer.