U.S. targets dozens of Chinese firms in Iran sanctions package

The U.S. Treasury unveiled an Iran sanctions package on Monday that swept up dozens of businesses in China and Hong Kong, while stopping short of targeting major Chinese financial institutions, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.

Bessent described the measures as Operation Economic Outcast, a broader U.S. effort to cut off Iran’s remaining financial lifelines, according to Bloomberg and Reuters.

The Treasury Department announced new sanctions on 60 individuals, entities and vessels, Reuters reported, and Bessent declined to name which countries would be targeted or when penalties would take effect.

He said he would give countries time to comply with the new directive rather than immediately apply penalties.

Reuters reported that Bessent stopped short of the most severe step, warning that nations continuing trade with Iran could be forced out of the dollar-based financial system.

Iran said it would retaliate after the U.S. widened sanctions, with Iran’s economy minister Ali Madanizadeh telling state television that the United States intended an “economic terrorist attack,” adding that “Our defense is no longer so defensive; the enemies should wait for an attack.”

Iran’s economy minister Ali Madanizadeh said, “We are fully prepared for the U.S. sanctions.”

Brigadier General Hossein Mohebbi, a spokesperson for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, vowed heavy blows to U.S. vital interests and energy chokepoints if Iran’s infrastructure is threatened, Press TV reported, according to Reuters.

China said it did not accept the U.S. measures and would protect its interests, while Iran’s talks with Pakistan were described by Pakistan’s military as “significant progress” toward preventing further escalation and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, Reuters reported.

Shipping data showed that only two commodity vessels transited the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, the lowest daily tally since early May, Reuters said.

Before the conflict, Reuters reported that the strait carried about a fifth of global crude oil and liquefied natural gas flows.