While new sanctions from the United States threaten to choke Tehran’s oil exports, analysts say the measures might not do much to stop China, Iran’s largest buyer, from continuing to buy Iranian crude, though the naval blockade has limited its flow.Washington has targeted shipping, alongside four other sectors, under its “economic D-Day” campaign against Iran, aiming to disrupt the Middle Eastern country’s crude revenue. Most of exported Iranian oil flows to independent Chinese refiners located in eastern Shandong province, known colloquially as teapots.“Beijing has made clear … that China continues to defend its ties with Iran, suggesting that the Chinese government does not plan to direct teapots and financial institutions to cut off the Iranian oil trade,” said Xu Muyu, a crude oil analyst at trade-intelligence firm Kpler.She added if Washington introduced further punitive measures targeting major Chinese entities, this might change Beijing’s stance, but doing so would risk escalating tensions ahead of a planned summit between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping next month.Chim Lee, a senior analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit, noted that Washington was likely to prioritise stability and refrain from crossing potential red lines for Beijing, including avoiding blacklisting major Chinese firms from the US financial system.The US has so far refrained from targeting Chinese financial institutions that are facilitating the Iranian oil trade. However, when asked about non-compliant Chinese banks and shipping firms, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that “no one is above the reach of US sanctions”.China’s foreign affairs ministry on Tuesday called the US measures “illegal” and “unilateral”, and vowed to safeguard its own interests. It added that China’s cooperation with Iran was conducted within the framework of international law and “should not be interfered with or undermined”.