Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang has urged “calm and restraint” as tensions between the U.S. and Iran escalate following U.S. President Donald Trump’s new sanctions on Iran.

“We believe that blindly applying maximum pressure will not help solve the problem,” he said at a press briefing in Beijing.

“Facts have proved that these measures have had the opposite effect and aggravated regional unrest,” he added.

Geng said, “We hope that the parties concerned will maintain calm and restraint and avoid further escalation of tension.”

According to Reuters, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that the situation around Iran was developing toward a dangerous scenario.

Trump announced new sanctions against top Iranian officials, including the office of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and senior commanders of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC).

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyyed Abbas Mousavi denounced the sanctions as “the permanent closure of the path to diplomacy” with the Trump administration.

Tension between Tehran and Washington has increased since Trump withdrew the U.S. from the 2015 nuclear deal in May 2018 and introduced harsh sanctions against Iran.

Tension entered a new phase as the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps on Thursday shot down a U.S. drone which violated Iran’s airspace.

Trump claimed he called off retaliatory air strikes minutes before impact.

NA/PA