8 May 2026

China fights back against US pressure on Iran

Micah McCartney

Beijing has ordered Chinese companies to defy U.S. sanctions over refineries linked to Iranian oil, in a challenge to U.S. efforts to extract further concessions from Iran in negotiations for a lasting ceasefire. The unprecedented move sets the stage for a potential showdown just days before President Donald Trump’s highly anticipated state visit to Beijing.

China has regularly condemned unilateral sanctions by the U.S. and others, criticizing them as a form of “long-arm jurisdiction” used to enforce domestic laws extraterritorially. However, the Ministry of Commerce’s Saturday announcement marked the first time Beijing has explicitly directed its firms to defy such measures.

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