Treasury Vows 'Toughest Sanctions in History' on Iran, Redesignates Hezbollah; China Rebuffs Pressure Campaign

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington will impose 'the toughest sanctions in history' on Iran as part of a 'one-two punch' with the existing naval blockade, previewing details at a Monday press conference. The same day, Treasury amended Hezbollah's sanctions designation to describe it as operating 'in service to the Iranian regime under the command of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force,' and separately sanctioned 10 individuals in a Lebanon-Turkey-UAE-Iran cash-courier network allegedly moving hundreds of millions of dollars. Bessent urged Beijing — which buys more than 80% of Iran's shipped oil — to 'get with the program,' saying such conversations were 'best to have in private.' China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian rejected the pressure the next day, saying 'sanctions and pressure will not help resolve the issue' and that Beijing 'opposes illegal unilateral sanctions that have no basis in international law.' Iran's Foreign Ministry called the sanctions 'economic terrorism' targeting ordinary citizens, while VP JD Vance called economic pressure 'the most effective tool.'