Overview
- China’s foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Friday that sanctions and pressure will not resolve the Middle East conflict and urged political and diplomatic solutions.
- U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has privately pressed partners to join an economic campaign to isolate Iran and told CNBC he wants Beijing to “get with the programme.”
- Beijing explicitly opposed unilateral sanctions that lack UN Security Council authorization, saying such measures have no basis in international law.
- Tehran has branded the threatened U.S. economic campaign “economic terrorism” and says the pressure is doomed to fail, underscoring Iran’s rejection of coercive tactics.
- The public divergence reduces the chances of a coordinated multilateral sanctions push and could force Washington to rely on private diplomacy and smaller coalitions to pursue economic pressure.