Overview
- Following Monday's U.S. Treasury announcement, Washington unveiled a sanctions package that blacklisted more than 60 people, firms and vessels and warned it may impose secondary sanctions on countries that keep trading with Iran.
- China's foreign ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said on Tuesday that Beijing will take “all necessary measures” to protect its rights and interests and rejected unilateral U.S. sanctions as lacking legal authority.
- Iran also vowed reprisals, with senior officials threatening economic and military responses and signaling they could further restrict Gulf oil exports or target shipping routes.
- Analysts warn that China is highly exposed because it buys a large share of Iran's crude and that expanding U.S. secondary sanctions to major Chinese banks or firms could prompt countermeasures that disrupt global finance and energy trade.
- The dispute rests on the U.S. tool of secondary sanctions and China's growing anti‑sanctions framework, including past orders for local firms not to comply and the use of private ‘teapot’ refineries to take Iranian oil, so markets and diplomats will watch for any move to target big Chinese banks or firms next.