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Nayan Seth

China has condemned fresh US “Economic D-Day” sanctions imposed on Chinese entities over their ties to Iran, pledging “all necessary measures” to protect its interests.
Launching the measures on Monday against Iran and its trading partners, the United States unveiled new sanctions against 60 entities, individuals and vessels around the world, including some in mainland China and Hong Kong, and demanded “immediate action” from nations maintaining economic and commercial ties with Iran.
The measures are part of the Trump administration’s latest efforts to choke off Tehran economically after military strikes and diplomatic negotiations failed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the six-month conflict.
In Beijing on Tuesday, the Chinese foreign ministry said Beijing’s cooperation with Tehran was conducted “within the framework of international law and should not be disrupted”.
Economic wars and maximum pressure were “not the solutions”, ministry spokesman Lin Jian said.
The new actions aim to expand Washington’s secondary sanctions, putting entities in multiple jurisdictions on notice.
“Let me be clear: any entity that facilitates money laundering on behalf of Iran will be removed from the US dollar system. The clock just started ticking,” US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
Bessent added that US President Donald Trump was “making phone calls to world leaders with specific requests” to halt their engagement with the Iranian regime, but did not identify the countries he had contacted.


The campaign’s effectiveness may ultimately depend on how far Washington is willing to press China, Iran’s most important remaining economic partner.
Although the sanctions announced on Monday target an extensive collection of mainland Chinese and Hong Kong procurement, financial and shipping intermediaries, they stop short of blacklisting major Chinese banks and refiners whose exposure to the US financial system could give Washington substantially greater leverage.
“We want to make clear here today that no one is above the reach of US sanctions,” Bessent said when asked about the possibility of the US imposing secondary sanctions on Chinese banks over their commercial links with Iranian entities.
However, he also advocated “quiet diplomacy” and said Washington was “level-setting with every country” to share its expectations.
“We know who they are; they know who they are. So when the hammer of US Treasury actions falls upon them, they will have no one to blame but themselves.”
The Treasury Department said it had “mapped the networks, facilitators, and financial channels that Iran uses to smuggle oil, evade sanctions and fund terror”.
“Every country will be given a defined timeline to shut down the Iran-related activity we have identified. If they fail to act, Treasury will act,” it warned.
China-based targets
The entities targeted on Monday included Hong Kong-based Sweet Ocean Industrial Ltd, accused of serving “as an intermediary for the procurement of sensitive goods, including laser optics equipment” for Iran’s UN-sanctioned Malek Ashtar University of Technology.
Among the newly designated Chinese nationals are Li Na, Qiu Xingyu, Tian Jianbai and Zhang Limei.
The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control links Li, Tian and Zhang to Sweet Ocean Industrial Ltd, while Qiu is linked to Hong Kong-based BRE International Logistics Corp. The entries carry proliferation-related designations and secondary-sanctions exposure.
The new mainland Chinese entities include Bositong Supply Chain Shenzhen Co Ltd, Shenzhen Bositong Logistics Co Ltd, Shenzhen Huamei Lianyun International Logistics Co Ltd and Shenzhen Sweet Ocean Technology Ltd.
Newly listed Hong Kong companies include BRE International Logistics Corporation HK Ltd, DEC Photonics Ltd, HK Jiatai Technology Ltd, MT Trading and Logistics HK Ltd, and RPT Technology Ltd.
There are also a number of Iranian oil and shipping-related companies, including Feili Co Ltd, Feisu Ltd, Guska Co Ltd, Minvur Ltd, Riqueza Group Ltd, Shipoil Ltd and Sky Oil and Gas Asia Ltd.
The Chinese embassy in Washington said Beijing stood firmly against “illicit unilateral sanctions that have no basis in international law”.
“We will firmly protect Chinese businesses’ legitimate and lawful rights and interests,” embassy spokesman Liu Chang said.


More summit headaches
The measures could further complicate the fragile US-China truce and come weeks before Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to visit Washington for a summit with Trump.
Last week, Bessent urged China to join Washington’s latest efforts to economically pressure and isolate Iran, arguing that Beijing’s dependence on Gulf energy supplies gave it a strong incentive to help bring an end to the conflict.
The US Treasury has already targeted several Chinese companies, including some based in Hong Kong, over their alleged role in processing billions of dollars in Iranian oil revenue and facilitating arms purchases. It has also warned two large Chinese banks against handling Iranian funds.
“Keep in mind, the Chinese get 50 per cent of their energy from the Gulf. So, it would do them a big service to get with the programme,” Bessent told CNBC when asked whether the new economic sanctions would include China.
Gulf countries – led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – accounted for 27.6 per cent of China’s total crude imports in July, according to official customs data released last week.
China is the biggest buyer of Iranian oil, purchasing more than 80 per cent of the country’s total oil exports in 2025, according to data from analytics firm Kpler.
“China enables Iran to mitigate global sanctions through trade and financial networks, technology transfers, and dual-use trade,” the US-China Economic and Security Commission alleged in a report released in March.
China has denied the allegations.




Iran threatens military strikes
Iran, meanwhile, has warned that it will retaliate against US sanctions, including possible strikes against its neighbours if they decide to join the US-led economic efforts.
“Our hands are not tied,” Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said on Monday, adding that “any escalation of this situation will undoubtedly bring about consequences”.
“Any country that becomes a partner in creating economic restrictions against us will be regarded by us as an enemy,” Mohsen Rezaei, the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, told Iranian state television on Saturday.
Iran has faced decades of economic sanctions and isolation, including Washington’s “maximum pressure” campaign during Trump’s first term, as the US has repeatedly sought to constrain Tehran’s access to international markets and the financial system.
Even as Washington intensifies economic pressure, Pakistani army chief Asim Munir is visiting Tehran to renew Pakistan’s mediating efforts to end the conflict.
Pakistan played an instrumental role in brokering the ceasefire and the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the US and Iran in June, but the agreement unravelled less than a month later.
The development on Monday marked the latest turn in a conflict that has seen escalating hostilities, repeated collapse of ceasefire agreements and US threats to intensify military operations.
Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key transit route for roughly one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies, has pushed up energy prices and added to global inflationary pressures.
Additional reporting by Fan Chen


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Washington warns Iran-linked entities face removal from US dollar system as Trump presses world leaders to cut financial ties


Washington warns Iran-linked entities face removal from US dollar system as Trump presses world leaders to cut financial ties.


China vows to safeguard interests after ‘Economic D-Day’ sanctions over Iran ties

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Washington warns Iran-linked entities face removal from US dollar system as Trump presses world leaders to cut financial ties

Washington warns Iran-linked entities face removal from US dollar system as Trump presses world leaders to cut financial ties