<p class="title">China on Tuesday urged "calm and restraint" as tensions between the US and Iran escalate following US President Donald Trump's new sanctions on Iran.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We believe that blindly applying maximum pressure will not help solve the problem," said Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang at a press briefing in Beijing.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Facts have proved that these measures have had the opposite effect and aggravated regional unrest," he added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Relations between Washington and Tehran have rapidly deteriorated over the past few weeks, after the US accused Iran of being behind a series of attacks on ships in sensitive Gulf waters -- claims hotly denied by Tehran.</p>.<p class="bodytext">On Monday, Trump further raised the stakes in an escalating regional standoff by imposing sanctions against Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and top military chiefs.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Iran's foreign ministry spokesman denounced the sanctions as "the permanent closure of the path to diplomacy" with the Trump administration.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We hope that the parties concerned will maintain calm and restraint and avoid further escalation of tension," Geng said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Last week, Iran and the US teetered on the edge of military confrontation after Iran shot down a US spy drone and Trump launched a retaliatory strike, cancelling it at the last minute. </p>
<p class="title">China on Tuesday urged "calm and restraint" as tensions between the US and Iran escalate following US President Donald Trump's new sanctions on Iran.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We believe that blindly applying maximum pressure will not help solve the problem," said Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang at a press briefing in Beijing.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Facts have proved that these measures have had the opposite effect and aggravated regional unrest," he added.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Relations between Washington and Tehran have rapidly deteriorated over the past few weeks, after the US accused Iran of being behind a series of attacks on ships in sensitive Gulf waters -- claims hotly denied by Tehran.</p>.<p class="bodytext">On Monday, Trump further raised the stakes in an escalating regional standoff by imposing sanctions against Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and top military chiefs.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Iran's foreign ministry spokesman denounced the sanctions as "the permanent closure of the path to diplomacy" with the Trump administration.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We hope that the parties concerned will maintain calm and restraint and avoid further escalation of tension," Geng said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Last week, Iran and the US teetered on the edge of military confrontation after Iran shot down a US spy drone and Trump launched a retaliatory strike, cancelling it at the last minute. </p>