China tells US to stop meddling in its trade with Iran

China on Friday blasted the United States for sanctioning Chinese entities that Washington says are involved in Iranian oil trade, asserting Beijing's readiness to defend its economic interests.

"China is always opposed to the abuse of illegal unilateral sanctions and long-arm jurisdiction," Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said. "The US should stop interfering in and undermining normal trade cooperation between China and Iran."

Her statement came a day after the US State Department announced sanctions against a crude oil and petroleum products storage terminal in the port of Huizhou, China, for receiving and storing Iranian-origin crude oil from a blocked tanker.

According to the US State Department, the terminal, offloaded approximately one million barrels of Iranian crude in late January 2025 from the US-designated tanker formerly known as Spirit of Casper and Nichola.

The State Department said Chinese terminals play a critical role in facilitating Iran’s energy exports and sustaining its revenue streams.

Washington has been ramping up sanctions on Iran's oil exports, as part of US President Donald Trump renewed "maximum pressure" campaign, aimed at cutting Iran’s oil exports to zero in a bid to force Tehran into talks over its nuclear program.

The latest measure on Thursday appears to have pushed China over the edge to censure publicly the Trump administration's targeting of Chinese entities.

"China will take all necessary measure to resolutely safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese companies," Mao warned in her statement.

Beijing hosted senior Iranian and Russian officials last week in a show of growing alliance between the three countries as the stand-off over Iran's nuclear program inches toward military confrontation.

"Now the situation has reached a critical juncture again," Chinese Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, said. "We must buy time for peace, resolve disputes through political and diplomatic means, and oppose the use of force and illegal sanctions."

Iran's deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said that the Islamic Republic had agreed with China and Russia that any future talks over Iran's nuclear program must not stray into other issues.

"We made our position clear and China and Russia take the same position and have always maintained that non-nuclear issues won’t be part of the nuclear talks," Gharibabadi said. "This is the position of all three countries."

The three countries in an earlier joint statement emphasized the need to address the root causes of the nuclear standoff. They condemned unilateral sanctions as illegal and underscored Iran's right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy.