US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has urged China to “get with the programme” as Washington ramps up economic pressure on Iran, warning Beijing that it relies heavily on Gulf energy.

China buys ⁠more than 80 per cent of Iran’s shipped oil, according to 2025 data from analytics firm Kpler, but engaging in further economic warfare with China, a major exporter to the US including vital rare-earth minerals, risks retaliation against Washington.

When asked if the United States could target China for doing business with Iran, Bessent said many conversations were best to have in private.

“Keep in mind that the Chinese get 50% (of their) energy… from the Gulf. So it would do them a big service to get with the program,” he said.

China’s embassy in Washington said “sanctions and pressure do not help resolve the problem.”

“China calls on the relevant parties to take responsible actions and resolve the issue through political and diplomatic means,” according to an embassy spokesperson.

Ship tracking data by Kpler reveals that oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz had nearly tripled before a 60-day ceasefire agreement expired.

Around 374 million barrels transited through the Gulf amounting to around 6.1 million barrels per day, according to a briefing published on Wednesday.

Before the MoU was signed this was around 2.3 million barrels. But despite the halting progress through the agreement period, numbers have not reached the heights of 15 million barrels a day prior to the conflict.

The US issued fresh sanctions targeting Lebanon’s Hezbollah, including re-designating it over actions on behalf of the Iranian government.

The Treasury Department redesignated the group “for service to the ⁠Iranian regime under the command of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force,” according to the statement.

A US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the redesignation was intended to show that Hezbollah is acting on behalf of the Iranian government, specifically Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard ⁠Corps Quds Force.

The US official said Thursday’s move was not part of new actions the US has vowed ‌it will take against Iran.

Iran’s foreign ministry said it condemned ‌US economic and trade sanctions, calling them “economic terrorism” that would not “create even the slightest hesitation in Iranians’ determination to safeguard Iran’s independence, dignity and national sovereignty.”

Foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said Trump’s latest post warning of unprecedented economic isolation was “a diversion” from America’s own economic problems.

“Doubling down on failed policies will only bring further defeat – and enmity of Iranians,” he wrote on X.

Trump is under pressure at ⁠home to end the unpopular war, with high fuel prices dragging down his approval ratings and potentially threatening his party’s control of Congress in midterm elections in November.

Donald Trump promised “Economic Warfare and Isolation on an unprecedented scale” against Iran.

In a Truth Social post, he did not say what specific steps the ​US would take or name any country, though the warning would appear to extend to US allies that have helped mediate peace ‌talks.

He warned that he would launch “the most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country”.

“ANY country that allows its financial institutions, businesses, airports, or government entities to provide any type of lifeline to Iran will itself face TREMENDOUS Economic Consequences,” Trump said.

“Oil smuggling, swap lines, cash transfers, exchange houses, ship registries, front companies – it all needs to stop NOW. You know who you are.”

Oil prices were on track for a second weekly rise with little change on Friday as the stalemated US-Iran war continues to disrupt supply from the key Middle East producing region.

Brent crude futures rose 4 cents to $93.82 a barrel by 0142 GMT, after climbing 2.4 per cent in the previous session.

US West Texas Intermediate crude futures slipped 6 cents to $86.78 a barrel, after climbing 2.3 per cent in the prior session.

Over the previous five days of gains, Brent rose more than 7 per cent and WTI climbed more than 8 per cent, reaching their highest levels since July 24.

Prices have climbed on concerns the inconclusive state of the US-Israeli war on Iran will mean the continued curtailment of supply from major oil producers such as Saudi Arabia, Iraq, the UAE and Kuwait.

US treasury chief Scott Bessent said the United States will impose “the toughest sanctions in history” on Iran, a move he suggested would lessen the need for new major military operations.

Bessent’s comments on Thursday followed President Donald Trump’s threat a day earlier of “Economic Warfare” and warning of economic consequences against any country that provided “any type of lifeline to Iran.”

Bessent told CNBC he would share more details on the latest package and “talk about exactly what we’re going to do” on Iran at a ‌press conference on Monday.

“It is a one-two punch. We have the blockade (on Iran), and we ‌are going to have the toughest sanctions in history,” he added, referring to a US naval blockade imposed on Iran in April and paused for a month in mid-June.

“I’m not sure why oil has popped up on this,” Bessent told CNBC. “If we are doing the maximum economic pressure, then that means that likely there will not be a large-scale kinetic restart,” he said, using a term referring to military force.

“It is going to work in Iran and we are going to collapse this regime. It is time for our allies and the rest of the world to make a decision,” he said.

Over 750 members of the US military have been injured since the Iran war began, according to data published the department of defence’s website and analysed by CNN.

More than 50 soldiers were added to the Pentagon’s casualty database on Wednesday.

The records, obtained by the National Iranian American Council and released Tuesday, detail cooperation surrounding three removal flights in September and December 2025 and January 2026 that returned more than 100 Iranians.

The emails indicate Iranian representatives requested changes to proposed passenger lists and that U.S. officials sometimes accommodated those requests.

Oman said lasting ⁠security in the Strait of Hormuz ⁠required ​permanent ⁠peace in ⁠the region ​and rejected ⁠further escalation ‌or conflict, its ‌foreign minister told his ‌Japanese counterpart.

Iran has said a deal with Oman on ‌new ​shipping ‌lanes through the ⁠strait ⁠was in ‌its ​final ‌stages.