U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Washington would impose what he called the "toughest sanctions in history" on Iran and urged China to cooperate with the United States. He said he would outline the measures at a press conference on Monday. China’s embassy in Washington said sanctions and pressure would not resolve the issue and called for political and diplomatic action. China buys more than 80% of Iran’s shipped oil, according to 2025 data from Kpler, raising the risk of retaliation if Washington escalates economic pressure against Beijing, a major U.S. trading partner and exporter of vital rare-earth minerals. Iran has endured major economic sanctions for nearly 50 years, since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Bessent said maximum economic pressure could reduce the likelihood of a large-scale military restart, even as oil prices rose to more than three-week highs. He also said reopening the Strait of Hormuz (a key global oil-shipping route) and lowering energy prices would benefit China, which gets 50% of its energy from inside the Gulf.