The United States on Monday urged China to push Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz and said that its purchases of Iranian oil amounted to funding global terrorism, delivering a stern rebuke ahead of President Trump\u2019s meeting in Beijing this month with the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping.<\/p>\n
The warning came from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who will be participating in the high-stakes meetings. Mr. Bessent has been leading an aggressive campaign to cripple Iran\u2019s economy with a blitz of new sanctions. He has also been working to devise ways to increase oil supplies around the world to blunt the impact of soaring energy prices. Gasoline hit an average of $4.45 per gallon on Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet\u2019s see if China \u2014 let\u2019s see them step up with some diplomacy and get the Iranians to open the strait,\u201d Mr. Bessent said on Fox News on Monday. \u201cIran is the largest state sponsor of terrorism, and China has been buying 90 percent of their energy, so they are funding the largest state sponsor of terrorism.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tension between the United States and China has eased since a year ago, when the Trump administration triggered a trade war by hiking tariffs on Chinese imports and China retaliated with export controls on critical minerals. But the Iran war has opened a new front<\/a> in their rivalry, as Chinese purchases of Iranian oil keep Iran\u2019s economy afloat.<\/p>\n In recent weeks, the Treasury Department has intensified economic pressure on China. It has specifically been targeting China\u2019s independent \u201cteapot\u201d refineries with sanctions and warning financial institutions that they will face penalties for facilitating oil sales between Iran and China.<\/p>\n The Treasury Department on April 24 imposed sanctions on an independent Chinese refinery, Hengli Petrochemical Refinery<\/a>, which is one of Iran\u2019s largest customers for crude oil and other petroleum products. Hengli has purchased billions of dollars\u2019 worth of Iranian crude from the Revolutionary Guards Corps, which wields military, political and economic clout<\/a> throughout Iran.<\/p>\n But China responded this past weekend, ordering its companies not to comply with the U.S. sanctions. China\u2019s Ministry of Commerce invoked a 2021 \u201cblocking measure\u201d that protects its firms from foreign laws that the Chinese government believes violate international norms and unfairly restrict trade.<\/p>\n U.S. sanctions are far-reaching economic tools that can block transactions and freeze the international assets of companies around the world, essentially cutting them off from Western financial services providers. China\u2019s order to disregard the sanctions will create a new point of tension between the world\u2019s two largest economies and could set the stage for additional decoupling of their financial systems.<\/p>\n China has been making other provocative moves ahead of the meeting between the two leaders.<\/p>\n