U.S. President Donald Trump has vowed to hit Iran hard economically, after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that Washington would impose measures on Tehran that have "never been seen" as soon as next week.
The United States, United Nations and European Union have applied sanctions, implemented trade embargoes and frozen assets since the late 1970s over Iran's nuclear programme, human rights violations and support for militant groups.
Since the Iran war began in February, Washington has levied additional maritime, energy and financial sanctions and started a naval blockade.
Data from the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) shows the agency has imposed sanctions on more than 1,000 people, vessels and aircraft since Trump began his second term.
Recent measures have targeted Iran's shadow oil fleet; shipping insurers; entities and people enabling Iran's acquisition of weapons; and digital exchanges, freezing an estimated $500 billion in Iran-linked cryptocurrency.
Iran has denounced U.S. plans to announce new sanctions that could put further strain on the Islamic Republic's economy.
Oil shipments are at a virtual standstill in the Strait of Hormuz, with Tehran threatening to strike any unauthorised oil tankers that try to transit the vital waterway, and Iran's economy is already under immense pressure from sanctions.
Sanctions on Chinese ‘teapot’ refiners
Chinese independent refineries known as "teapots" account for a quarter of Chinese refinery capacity. They operate with narrow and sometimes negative profit margins.
China buys more than 80 per cent of Iran's shipped oil, according to 2025 data from analytics firm Kpler. Independent refiners absorb much of this trade, exposing them to so-called secondary measures that penalise entities helping a primary sanctions target.
OFAC has imposed secondary sanctions on smaller China - and Hong Kong-based entities accused of processing billions of dollars in Iranian oil and helping to fund weapons procurement.
The Treasury Department has warned two larger Chinese banks they could face secondary sanctions if Iranian funds were found moving through their systems, but has stopped short of designating them.
Hitting those two banks, which U.S. officials have not publicly identified, or imposing other sanctions could have a chilling effect on bigger financial institutions, sanctions experts said, although they warned it could also trigger retaliatory actions by Beijing.
Trump administration officials have sought to play down tensions between Washington and Beijing ahead of an expected meeting between Trump and President Xi Jinping later this year.
‘Whack-a-mole’ approach
The United States could continue targeting Iranian individuals and entities, as well as others in China and the Gulf, that are helping Tehran evade sanctions to collect revenues for its war effort.
The Treasury Department recently issued sanctions against firms that are springing up to facilitate Iran's trading of oil revenue for imports.
But such measures amount to a "whack-a-mole" approach that has not altered Iran's behaviour, said Brett Erickson, Managing Principal of Obsidian Risk Advisors, noting that Tehran simply creates new entities to replace them.
Some U.S. and Israeli officials have floated the prospect of a land blockade, which would require assistance from Iran's neighbours: Iraq, Türkiye, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Armenia.
The Trump administration has varying degrees of closeness with all those countries except Afghanistan, but that border is mountainous and extremely difficult to patrol anyway.
Trump may have leverage over Pakistan, which recently sought a $10 billion currency swap line from Treasury, and Türkiye, which is seeking to rejoin the U.S. F-35 warplane programme.
A land blockade could increase pressure on the Iranian people by halting their imports of food, energy and textiles, but experts say such a move would be difficult to execute and might not result in protests or internal pressure.
Trump has repeatedly threatened tariffs on goods from countries that do business with Iran, although the Supreme Court struck down the legal basis for such taxes.
The Senate passed a sweeping Russia sanctions bill last week that included new Iran sanctions and would give Trump new tariff powers that he could potentially use against countries that aid Iran's commerce and weapons procurement.
That legislation must still pass the U.S. House of Representatives, which could prove challenging given widespread concerns among Democrats and some Republicans about the tariff measures.
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Saudi Arabia is now facing pressure from both ends of the Arabian Peninsula. While the crisis around the Strait of Hormuz is disrupting Gulf shipping and energy flows, fighting has intensified in western Yemen, bringing the Houthis back into direct confrontation with the kingdom.
Iran has warned it will retaliate against any future U.S. attacks, saying American energy interests and infrastructure across the Gulf could become targets in a further escalation of the conflict.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Sunday that the United States must recognise that the “rules of the game” in its war against Iran had changed “before it is too late”, a day after Washington struck several Iranian tankers in the Gulf.
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