CNBC Daily Open: China in the crosshairs, Bitcoin is back and Dragon Ball Z diplomacy

Hello, this is Leonie Kidd coming to you from London.

It's sound and fury from the Trump administration as it unveils its economic war against Iran. But the announcement has raised a lot of questions about how it could impact the Iranian regime's so-called "enablers."

Read on.

"We are launching an economic onslaught against Iran's financial connections around the globe." That's the warning from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as he detailed his plan to isolate Iran's economy by imposing secondary sanctions.

"Any entity that facilitates money laundering on behalf of Iran will be removed from the U.S. dollar system," he said. "The clock just started ticking."

The plan has raised immediate questions over whether it would target China as a so-called "enabler" of Iranian foreign economic activity. China is the biggest buyer of Iranian oil, suggesting the Administration's efforts to cut off the regime could target Chinese companies.

A fragile trade truce has so far held between Washington and Beijing, as both nations prepare for Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit U.S. President Donald Trump next month.

Meanwhile, gold has hit a three-month high. The rally in the precious metal has been supported by a weaker U.S. dollar, as well as the U.S. Treasury's bond buyback plan, which has slowed the spike in yields.

The yellow metal has gained over 15% so far this month.

Auto stories are dominating the corporate news agenda on Tuesday.

German luxury car giant Porsche has signed a $1.5 billion AI deployment deal with India's largest IT services firm Tata Consulting.

Meanwhile, shares in Xpeng are sinking after the Chinese EV maker issued a weaker-than-expected delivery forecast. This overshadowed a $900 million raise for its robotic business, valuing the unit at $6.3 billion.

Anime fans will celebrate the news that French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman have agreed to build a $7 billion manga-inspired theme park near Paris. The "Dragon Ball Z" world is expected to create over 20 thousand jobs.

Macron took to X.com to big-up the announcement. "You know my passion for manga. You also know my determination to attract to France the investments that create jobs and make the most ambitious projects possible."

— Leonie Kidd