{"id":6055,"date":"2026-08-26T14:39:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T14:39:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=6055"},"modified":"2026-08-26T14:39:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T14:39:22","slug":"the-u-s-declared-an-onslaught-on-iran-chinas-banks-got-a-pass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crosscountrymovingteams.com\/?p=6055","title":{"rendered":"The U.S. declared an \u2018onslaught\u2019 on Iran. China\u2019s banks got a pass"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Beijing is Iran\u2019s biggest trading partner and its leading oil buyer. While the U.S. is trying to isolate the Islamic Republic from its remaining economic partners, President Donald Trump also is preparing to\u00a0host Chinese leader Xi Jinping\u00a0next month to maintain a fragile\u00a0trade truce.<\/p>\n

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Absent from Bessent\u2019s remarks this week were specifics about how the Trump administration would target China, casting doubts on how effective the new campaign would be when the U.S. must balance putting maximum pressure on Iran and\u00a0avoiding higher tensions\u00a0with China that could be costly to the American economy.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe announcement yesterday was very careful in my view to avoid specifics (against China), which could have led to a disruption in the summit,\u201d Edgard Kagan, senior adviser and Freeman Chair in China studies at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said Tuesday. \u201cFor Xi, a state visit to Washington is a big deal; and for Trump, hosting it is a big deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

That means both Washington and Beijing will have a dance to do, said Kagan, who served as U.S. ambassador to Malaysia from December 2023 until this February.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the real question is, is there room to push (the Chinese) to reduce what they\u2019re doing with Iran, to put more pressure on the Iranian regime in a way that doesn\u2019t lead them to say, \u2018This is unreasonable, and we\u2019re not going to comply,\u2019\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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China is likely to wait and see and do the minimum<\/h4>\n

In response to \u201cOperation Economic Outcast,\u201d which Bessent announced Monday, Beijing said its cooperation with Iran has always been \u201cwithin the framework of international law.\u201d China receives more than 80% of Iranian oil shipments but usually through indirect channels.<\/p>\n

Lin Jian, a spokesperson for the Chinese foreign ministry, said China-Iran cooperation \u201cshould not be disrupted or undermined.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u201cChina is closely monitoring relevant developments and will take all necessary measures to resolutely safeguard its own rights and interests,\u201d Lin said. He repeated China\u2019s opposition to \u201cillegal unilateral sanctions.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Kagan described Beijing\u2019s remarks as \u201ca holding response\u201d and said Beijing will try to do the least to comply without openly confronting the U.S.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey\u2019ve tended to be careful not crossing explicit red lines, but they haven\u2019t addressed the spirit of what the U.S. has sought,\u201d Kagan said, pointing to practices such as ship-to-ship oil transfers that obscure the origin of Iranian crude oil to evade American sanctions.<\/p>\n

Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center, a Washington think tank, said China will not go along with the new campaign if the U.S. goal is to destroy the Iranian economy and seek the government\u2019s collapse.<\/p>\n

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But \u201cif the goal is to exert enough pressure for Iran to make concessions on the\u00a0Strait of Hormuz\u00a0and potentially ending the conflict, I think China can and will demonstrate its cooperation without having to completely sever ties with Iran,\u201d Sun said. \u201cChina only needs to do enough to demonstrate it is cooperating, such as cut back on its oil import from Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

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With a planned summit between Trump and Xi weeks away, \u201cneither side wishes to have a major escalation bilaterally at this point,\u201d she said. \u201cChina needs to give U.S. something, and U.S. needs to understand and accept that it is not going to be everything U.S. asks for.\u201d<\/p>\n

US is not likely to act tough on China, analysts say<\/h4>\n

So far, the Trump administration has refrained from imposing sanctions on major Chinese businesses or banks connected to the U.S. financial system and thus vulnerable to American penalties.<\/p>\n

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The Treasury Department said Monday that it was penalizing nearly 60 Iran-linked entities, accusing them of involvement in Iran\u2019s nuclear and missile programs, cyber activities and oil shipments.<\/p>\n

It targeted a number of entities and individuals based in mainland China and Hong Kong for supporting Iran\u2019s missile and nuclear programs. It sanctioned a China-owned crude oil tanker for transporting millions of barrels of Iranian oil to China this year as well as a Hong Kong-based business for its role in the shadow fleet that ships out Iranian oil.<\/p>\n

With Xi\u2019s visit coming up, Trump may not act tough on China now, said Ali Wyne, senior research and advocacy adviser on U.S.-China relations at the International Crisis Group.<\/p>\n

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\u201cGiven how keen Trump has been to maintain both a trade truce between the United States and China and his personal rapport with Xi, he seems unlikely to do a volte-face just a month before Xi\u2019s state visit and adopt a highly confrontational posture,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Plus, Xi\u2019s visit to the U.S. could pave the way for\u00a0Trump to return to China\u00a0in November for the leaders summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation grouping.<\/p>\n

In his second term, Trump has been less hawkish on China than in his first presidency and frequently touts his good relationship with Xi following a major trade war last year that featured back-and-forth\u00a0escalating tariffs. The U.S. business community also welcomes Xi\u2019s visit, saying it\u2019s a good sign if the two leaders meet in person, even when any substantial deals may be elusive.<\/p>\n

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\u201cBeijing is betting that Washington will be reluctant to jeopardize the current leader-level dynamic by targeting major Chinese entities before the summit,\u201d said Craig Singleton, senior director for China at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish Washington think tank.<\/p>\n

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Amiri reported from New York. Associated Press writer Aamer Madhani contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

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China buys 80% of Iran’s oil exports. Treasury sanctioned a tanker and a Hong Kong shipper \u2014 not the banks tied to the U.S. financial system.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6054,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[103],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iran"],"yoast_head":"\nThe U.S. declared an \u2018onslaught\u2019 on Iran. 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