Oman is trying to arrange a temporary shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow sea passage between Iran and the United States that carries about a fifth of the world's oil and gas.
China has gone from rejecting a US ultimatum over its trade with Iran to warning it may retaliate, the Financial Times reports.
China said it will keep trading with Iran and will not bow to what it called economic warfare, after the United States sanctioned Chinese companies over their Iran business last week and told other countries to halt trade with Tehran too.
The United States is asking the UN Security Council to impose tougher sanctions on the two armed groups fighting in Sudan's civil war, hoping to pressure them into peace negotiations.
The United States removed Syria from its list of state sponsors of terrorism, a designation dating back to 1979 that had kept most foreign banks and investors away from the country.
The U.S. Treasury Department is preparing to expand penalties on countries and companies that do business with Iran, according to a source cited by Reuters. Washington has also asked China to join the effort, according to WFAA. These so-called secondary sanctions can punish non-U.S. firms, including Chinese companies, for trading with Iran. It is not yet clear which sectors would be targeted or whether China, a major buyer of Iranian oil, will agree to take part.
Days after the US announced new sanctions on Iran, its currency, the rial, has dropped to its lowest value on record.
The United States launched its strongest set of economic penalties against Iran, after weeks of warning the move was coming.
The European Commission has joined other countries in telling Israel to cancel a plan to build settlements east of Jerusalem, which would split the West Bank in two.
Israel has opened bidding for more than 1,200 homes for Israeli settlers in a West Bank area called E1.
The United States has announced new penalties, called sanctions, meant to cut off money and trade with Iran, calling the move an 'economic D-Day.' Iran's government called the sanctions 'economic terrorism.' Washington also asked China, which buys most of Iran's oil, to help enforce the sanctions, but China publicly refused, saying they won't solve the underlying conflict.
The United States has asked allied countries and China to join a campaign of economic sanctions against Iran, part of President Trump's effort to raise pressure on Tehran during a stalled war.