# Iran Vows 'Devastating' Retaliation as Bessent Presses China to Cut Ties

> Tehran is promising a crushing response to Washington's threatened new sanctions package, while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent publicly pressures China, Iran's largest oil buyer, to fall in line. Beijing is refusing.

- Source: Foreign Time
- Canonical URL: https://foreigntime.com/article/iran-sanctions-devastating-retaliation-china-bessent
- Author: Foreign Time Newsroom
- Section: Sanctions
- Published: 2026-08-21T18:30:28.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-21T18:30:28.000Z
- Tags: Sanctions, Iran, China, United States, Treasury

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Senior Iranian officials warned on Friday that any new U.S. pressure would be met with "crushing, punishing, and devastating responses," days after the White House said it would launch its "MOST CRUSHING ECONOMIC OPERATION EVER TAKEN" against Tehran, according to Foreign Policy's World Brief writer Alexandra Sharp. President Donald Trump warned this week that any country whose "financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities" provide Iran a lifeline, including cash transfers, oil smuggling, or corporate fronts, would itself face "TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences," a threat he called "Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale."

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has reinforced the threat, telling CNBC that "you are either with us or against us," and adding that "it is time for our allies and the rest of the world to make a decision. We are going to squash the economy of this murderous regime." On X, Bessent wrote that "any remaining tie to Tehran will hasten a nation's economic oblivion, whether that tie be purposefully constructed or willfully ignored," and said he would detail the new sanctions package on Monday. The shift in tone is notable, Sharp writes: Washington had previously criticized NATO allies mainly for not doing enough to help militarily against Iran, but is now warning third countries they could face the same economic fate as Tehran itself if they don't fall in line.

Bessent's message is aimed squarely at China, which purchased more than 80 percent of Iran's shipped oil in 2025, according to data from analytics firm Kpler, and which the administration credits with helping Tehran weather sanctions this long. "We are confident that everyone wants the Strait [of Hormuz] reopened, and for energy prices to come back down," Bessent said Thursday. "Keep in mind that the Chinese get 50 percent [of their] energy from inside the Gulf, so it would do them a big service to get with the program." China has shown no sign of complying: a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in Washington responded that "sanctions and pressure do not help resolve the problem," and called on "the relevant parties to take responsible actions and resolve the issue through political and diplomatic means."

Tehran, for its part, is preparing to absorb the hit rather than back down. Chief Iranian negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said Friday that Iran "must plan for the unjust sanctions so that we can overcome them," the same day Maj. Gen. Ali Abdollahi, chief of staff of Iran's armed forces, said retaliation could take the form of land, sea, air, or cyberattacks. With Beijing publicly rejecting Washington's pressure campaign and Tehran promising to meet new sanctions with force rather than concessions, Sharp's reporting suggests the standoff is escalating on every front at once, economic, diplomatic, and military, with the size of Monday's sanctions package likely to determine how far each side is willing to go next.

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Originally published by Foreign Time. Free to cite with attribution and a link to https://foreigntime.com/article/iran-sanctions-devastating-retaliation-china-bessent.