Iran has denounced US plans to announce new sanctions that could further strain its economy and affect its most important trading partners, China foremost among them (Geo News).
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei responded on Saturday to the imminent US announcement.
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent is due to hold a press conference at 2pm EDT (1800 GMT) on Monday, having threatened “the toughest sanctions in history”.
The state of the war
It is nearly six months since the United States and Israel launched airstrikes against Iran on February 28.
The two sides are no longer firing at each other. They are also showing no sign of pursuing peace talks. That is the defining feature of the present moment: not a ceasefire, and not a resumption, but a war that has stopped shooting without ending.
Hormuz
Oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz are at a virtual standstill.
Tehran has threatened to strike any unauthorised oil tanker attempting to transit the waterway — which carried about a fifth of all traded oil before February. That capability, rather than any conventional military advantage, is what has prevented the war resolving on Washington’s terms.
The Chinese question
Bessent has urged China to cooperate. Beijing buys more than 80 per cent of Iran’s shipped oil, according to 2025 data from the analytics firm Kpler, and has urged diplomacy rather than pressure.
Any sanctions regime aimed at Iran’s revenue has to run through Chinese purchasers. Reuters reporting indicates the US is preparing to target Iranian trading partners directly — an escalation that would move the confrontation from Iran to the countries that buy from it.
Already imposed
The United States, the United Nations and the European Union have sanctioned Iran since the late 1970s. Since the war began in February, Washington has added maritime, energy and financial sanctions and imposed a naval blockade.
Iranian leaders have sounded confident while acknowledging the economic toll. What remains available to Washington after five decades of sanctions is examined separately in our analysis of Trump’s options.
For Pakistan
Hormuz sits underneath Pakistan’s fuel prices. Petrol reached Rs341.59 a litre and diesel Rs368.29 on Saturday, and the arrangement under which four Karachi refineries absorbed part of their margin to cut diesel was explicitly framed as lasting only until the Strait’s situation improves.
