China criticized the Trump administration’s expanded Iran sanctions, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian saying China-Iran cooperation complies with international law and should not face interference. Beijing also warned that measures targeting Tehran could disrupt the global economy through spillovers to international trade, energy supply chains and market stability. The sanctions target nearly 60 Iran-linked entities and third-party transactions involving digital assets, technology, gold, aviation and shipping, potentially exposing Chinese companies, crypto exchanges, payment processors and wallet providers to U.S. secondary sanctions. At the same time, Chinese refiners have reportedly increased purchases of heavily discounted Iranian crude, although imports are lower than last year, underscoring the limits of efforts to restrict Tehran’s main revenue source. China buys more than 80% of Iran’s oil exports and is its biggest oil buyer. Iran’s rial fell to an unofficial-market record of 2.02 million per dollar, July inflation reached 87.9% year on year and European natural-gas prices rose nearly 4% to €68.45 ($79.85) per megawatt-hour. Prediction-market odds of crude reaching a new all-time high were 1.8% by Sept. 30 and 12.5% by Dec. 31, while the probability of a 2026 U.S.-Iran deal with reconstruction funding was also priced at 12.5%.