Trump Says China, Russia Pledged Not to Arm Iran as US sanctions Iranian financial network

ERBIL (Kurdistan24) - US President Donald Trump said Friday that Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin have each personally assured him that their countries will not, under any circumstances, provide weapons to Iran, as the US Treasury Department separately imposed new sanctions on a sprawling financial network accused of laundering money on behalf of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.

In a post on his Truth Social account on Friday, Trump wrote that Xi made the commitment during their recent meeting in Beijing, extending the assurance to Chinese companies as well as the Chinese state. Trump said he takes Xi "at his word," adding that he is doing the Chinese leader "very big favors" in return, though he did not elaborate on the nature of those favors.

Trump said Putin offered a similar assurance despite the ongoing war in Ukraine, noting that his relationship with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy remains intact. According to Trump, Putin understands that the United States does not sell weapons directly to Ukraine but rather to NATO member states, which purchase them at full price. Trump said he has no direct knowledge of how those weapons are subsequently distributed.

Trump framed the assurances as significant given how frequently China and Russia are discussed in connection with Iran, saying: "Therefore, two major Countries that people speak of often in terms of Iran are, in my opinion, not participating. If they did, it would be very bad for them — Certainly not in their best interests."

Neither the Chinese nor Russian governments have issued separate statements confirming the assurances described by Trump.

Treasury Targets Zanjani's Business Empire

Separately, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned nine companies and four individuals tied to the international network of Iranian businessman Babak Zanjani, accusing the group of using aviation, gold mining, data centers and digital cloud services to evade sanctions and launder money for the Revolutionary Guard.

Zanjani was sentenced to death in 2016 over the theft of millions of dollars from the National Iranian Oil Company. That sentence was reduced in 2024, and Zanjani formally returned to economic activity in 2025, quickly assembling a series of major business ventures in transportation, mining and digital currency, some of which US officials say were used to launder money on behalf of the Revolutionary Guard.

Through a business empire called "Dot One," based in Tehran, Zanjani oversaw several financial operations. Dot One Value Creation Group served as the main holding company for projects in shipping, aviation, communications and digital currencies, with Zanjani serving as executive director since 2024. DotOne Gold Company specialized in refining, producing and storing gold, alongside issuing a gold-backed digital currency known as "Tala Token." Additional firms under the Dot One umbrella included DotOne Rail Company, which signed an $800 million agreement with Iran's national railway; DotOne Barter Company, focused on barter trade; DotOne Airlines Company; and DotOne Trip, a transportation firm. All of these companies were named in Friday's sanctions.

Treasury's Warning

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Iran is paying a heavy economic price for what he described as its defiant behavior, pointing to the rial's fall to its lowest historical level and sharply rising inflation. "Under the leadership of the President of the United States, the Treasury Department will continue cutting off the financial access of Tehran's corrupt leaders, along with their supporters and financial facilitators," Bessent said.

Under Friday's decision, all property, shares and capital held by the sanctioned individuals and companies within the United States, or under the control of US citizens, are fully blocked and must be reported to the Treasury Department. Violations of the sanctions carry the strictest financial, civil and criminal penalties under US and international law.