As Trump Warns Of 'Economic D-Day,' A Look At Iran's Main Trading Partners

President Donald Trump's administration in the United States has laid out plans for the "economic asphyxiation" of Iran, expanding Washington's secondary sanctions threats under its "economic D-Day" campaign to isolate Tehran from the global economy. The US has also threatened penalties against "enablers" that continue doing business with Tehran.

The announcement comes almost six months into a war in the Middle East that has ground to a stalemate, with stalled peace talks and Tehran blocking most traffic through the crucial Strait of Hormuz. Projecting the planned economic starvation as 'endgame', US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said expanded secondary sanctions would target Iran's digital assets, technology, gold, aviation, and shipping sectors.

It also issued new sanctions against 60 individuals, companies, and vessels that allegedly aid Iran in oil revenue generation, weapons procurement, and cyber operations, targeting entities around the world, including in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Hong Kong, China, Singapore, and Europe.

Iran's Top Trading Partners

While enforcement details of new US measures remain sketchy, the threat could still put several of Tehran's major trade partners, including China and India, on a collision course with America. China, the UAE, Turkey, Iraq, the European Union, India, Pakistan, and the Russian Federation are among Tehran's biggest trading partners. 

China

China is Iran's largest trading partner, accounting for nearly one-third of the country's non-oil foreign trade. It is also the biggest buyer, accounting for nearly 90 per cent of its oil exports, according to US government data. 

Beijing reported $9.96 billion in bilateral trade with Tehran in 2025. This number, according to the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, excluded roughly $31.2 billion in unreported Iranian crude oil exports to China that year. 

Kpler estimates that China bought an ​average of 1.38 million barrels per day of Iranian oil in 2025. It noted that independent Chinese refiners take Iranian oil in bulk, often rebranding it as Malaysian or Indonesian crude and settling through intermediaries outside the dollar system.

The US Treasury in April imposed sanctions on a Chinese independent refinery for buying billions of dollars' worth of Iranian oil and warned Chinese banks of secondary sanctions if they facilitated trade of Iranian oil.

Beijing has openly opposed US sanctions against Iran, saying it would safeguard its interests. "China has already stated many times that it firmly opposes illegal unilateral sanctions... China will take all necessary measures to firmly safeguard its own rights and interests," foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told a regular news briefing.

United Arab Emirates

The Emirates, located just 50 miles from Iran across the Persian Gulf, has long been a major trading hub for Iran. The bilateral trade amounted to around $28 billion in 2024, when the Emirates was its largest source of imports, contributing over 30 per cent, according to the World Trade Organisation data. 

The UAE was also Iran's third-largest export destination, making up 12 per cent of its shipments, totalling more than $7 billion.

That relationship hit a snag last week as the UAE moved to suspend all trade and financial transactions with Iran, following two ballistic missiles fired toward Emirati territory, one of which targeted UAE-owned tankers.

Iran has relied on UAE banks and its financial system to access the world economy through illicit, often murky transactions, and cutting off Iran would require more forceful actions from Emirati authorities to crack down on opaque financial and trading activity, according to US -based think tank The Washington Institute.

"The majority of Iran's transshipment, smuggling, and shadow banking activity takes place in Dubai, so Washington must do what it can to help the UAE's national leaders in Abu Dhabi convince and cajole Dubai's leaders to play ball," Matthew Levitt, a former U.S. Treasury official, wrote in a note on Monday.

Turkey

Turkey maintains significant commercial ties with Tehran, importing Iranian natural gas and exporting manufactured goods south.

The Turkey-Iran bilateral trade reached $5.7 billion in 2024, according to the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with Ankara exporting mostly machinery and parts, chemical and agricultural products, while importing energy products from Tehran.

Meanwhile, under a 25-year gas supply contract between the two countries that expired at the end of July, Turkey's imports of Iranian gas spiked this year while Iran's share of Turkey's total natural gas imports rose to 18.6 per cent. While Ankara has sought to diversify toward other suppliers, expanding pipeline imports from Azerbaijan and Russia, it has, so far, not signalled that it intends to cut Iran off.

Iraq

Iraq, dependent on Iranian electricity and gas, has historically traded billions with Tehran. Iran renewed a five-year contract in March 2024 to supply Iraq with up to nearly 660 billion cubic feet of natural gas a year, and electricity imports from Iran accounted for more than 30 per cent of its electricity generation in 2023, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

Iraq-Iran trade reached more than $10 billion in 2025, according to Reuters, with Tehran exporting food, consumer goods, and other products to the Iraqi market. The trade has dwindled this year amid increased security risks in the region and intermittent disruptions along border crossings since the war started in late February.

Iraq reportedly pays Iran around $4 billion to $5 billion a year for natural gas for electricity generation. The fresh US sanctions could curtail Baghdad's payments for Iranian energy.

India

India, among Iran's top five trading partners, has seen its bilateral trade with Iran fall in recent years to around $1.6 billion in the year ending March 2026, according to India's Department of Commerce, down from $2.3 billion in the year through to March 2023.

New Delhi primarily exports rice, tea, sugar, and pharmaceuticals to Iran and imports dry and fresh fruits from Iran. In April, India resumed importing crude oil from Iran following a seven-year halt, after the US temporarily lifted sanctions on Iranian crude exports.

But those trades will now be tested if Washington makes good on its threat to sanction any entity, including Indian refiners, that has procured Iranian energy.