Iran strongly criticized U.S. plans to announce new sanctions that could place additional pressure on the country’s economy and affect its major trading partners, including China.
Nearly six months after the United States and Israel launched airstrikes against Iran on Feb. 28, the sides are no longer directly firing at each other but have also shown no signs of moving toward peace talks.
Oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz have almost come to a halt. Tehran has threatened to strike any unauthorized oil tankers attempting to pass through the vital waterway, while Iran’s economy is already facing severe pressure from existing sanctions.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is scheduled to hold a press conference at 2 p.m. EDT (1800 GMT) on Monday after previously threatening to impose “the toughest sanctions in history” on Iran.
Bessent has also called on China to cooperate with Washington. According to 2025 data from analytics firm Kpler, China buys more than 80% of Iran’s shipped oil. Beijing, however, has called for diplomacy.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei said that the expected U.S. announcement of new economic sanctions was an “assertion of extraterritorial sovereignty over every independent member state of the United Nations.”
