China declared its opposition to the US’ proposed unilateral coercive measures against Iran and attempts to economically isolate the country, claiming sanctions serve no one’s interests.
Unilateral sanctions do not resolve anything and instead escalate tensions. All parties should act rationally and avoid taking any measures that could further intensify conflict and impact global economic development and financial stability, Lin Jian, official spokesperson of China’s foreign ministry, said in a press conference on Monday, 24 August.
“China will do whatever is necessary to protect its interests” in Iran, Lin said.
US President Donald Trump announced last week the launch of an “economic D-Day” to isolate Iran and force its government to give up its nuclear program and control over the Strait of Hormuz.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has threatened strong secondary sanctions on all countries that would fail to comply with the US sanctions and retain their economic ties with Iran.
In a write up published in the Financial Times on Monday, Bessent called all those countries who have economic links with Iran “enablers” of its “corrupt regime” who has acted as a “malignant force in the world.”
“Any remaining tie to Tehran will hasten the economic ostracism of countries and entities, whether that tie be purposefully constructed and wilfully ignored,” Bessent wrote in the FT article.
Bessent has also claimed that “a total financial isolation [of Iran] can obviate the need for American force.”
He is scheduled to hold a press conference at around 7 GMT on Monday to announce the details of the sanctions.
Last week Bessent had explicitly asked China to cooperate with US plans to isolate Iran, promising it would do a “big service” to the country.
China is Iran’s largest trading partner and the largest purchaser of its oil. China and Iran are members of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS, both organizations working to achieve multilateralism and in opposition to all forms of unilateral punitive measures.
Disaster for the global economy
Meanwhile, Iran has warned that if the US fails to assess the situation correctly and moves forward with the fresh economic sanctions it will be disastrous for the global economy.
“If the economic war continues, not a single drop of oil will be exported, neither through the Strait of Hormuz nor from anywhere in the Persian Gulf,” Mohsen Rezaei, newly appointed head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, said on Sunday.
Iran has also dismissed Bessent’s claims and reports in the media about the normalization of oil trade through the Strait of Hormuz as false and “part of psychological and media warfare.”
Ever since the beginning of the US-Israeli war on Iran in late February, the global supply of oil has been badly disrupted impacting a large number of countries in Asia in particular. It has also led to a massive rise in the prices of oil across the globe.
Rezaei also warned that Iran will consider any cooperation with the economic war of the US “against the Iranian people as an act of war” and the cooperating country as an “enemy” of Iran.
During his weekly press conference on Monday, Esmail Baghaei, official spokesperson of Iran’s Foreign Ministry reiterated the point, claiming that any cooperation with the US’ unilateral acts against Iran will “certainly have consequences.”
After failing to force Iran to open the strait with military strikes, the Trump administration announced plans for its economic isolation and asked all its allies to shut all explicit and implicit economic transactions with Iran last week.
The UAE, one of the closest US allies in the region, announced the complete suspension of its existing economic relations with Iran after accusing it of launching a missile attack towards its territory.
No other country in the region has made a similar move against Iran yet.
China just talks. Russia acts.
Ron Ridenour