United States President Donald Trump has said the U.S. will impose tariffs of 50% on countries supplying Iran with weapons.
While Russia and China have provided missiles and air defence technology to Iran in the past, both countries have denied sending weapons recently. The U.S. and Iran agreed to a two-week ceasefire yesterday.
“A Country supplying Military Weapons to Iran will be immediately tariffed, on any and all goods sold to the United States of America, 50%, effective immediately,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “There will be no exclusions or exemptions!”
Trump did not specify which nations this would include, or if other forms of military assistance to Iran would qualify a country for these tariffs.
Russia has supplied Iran with imagery surveys of military facilities used to strike U.S. targets, according to Ukrainian intelligence.
Chinese chipmaker SMIC, which is under U.S. sanctions due to alleged ties to China’s military, has reportedly been sending chip production tools to Iran over the past year.
It is also not clear how these tariffs could be imposed. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down all tariffs imposed under the International Economic Emergency Powers Act in February, and other legal tariff measures would be temporary, limited in scope, and require approval by Congress.
The Iranian government has yet to comment on these potential tariffs. The U.S. and Iran are set to conduct direct negotiations in Pakistan on Friday.
