Speaking at a regular press briefing on Monday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said Beijing has always required its enterprises to conduct business in full compliance with “laws and regulations.”
"We will firmly safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese enterprises," he added.
He emphasized the importance of making every possible effort to prevent a resumption of hostilities in the region as the world's most urgent priority at this juncture.
“The pressing priority is to prevent by all means a relapse in fighting, rather than using the war to maliciously associate and smear other countries.”
The comments mark Beijing's latest rebuke of Washington's so-called maximum pressure campaign against Tehran, which comes just days before a planned visit by US President Donald Trump to China.
The US Treasury Department has imposed sanctions on ten individuals and companies, several of them based in China and Hong Kong, for their alleged involvement in helping Iran obtain weapons and the necessary raw materials for its Shahed drones and ballistic missiles.
In a statement, the Treasury Department claimed the economic measures aim to hinder Iran's military industrial base weapons production capacity.
The department also claimed that it will take action against any foreign entities supporting what it called illicit Iranian commerce, including airlines, and to implement secondary sanctions on foreign financial institutions that assist Iran, even those connected to China's independent oil refineries.
In an unprecedented act of defiance, China has pushed back against Washington’s sanctions on Chinese refiners buying Iranian crude, invoking a “blocking rule” for the first time, directing companies not to comply with US sanctions.
Press TV