Donald Trump says Xi Jinping backs reopening Strait of Hormuz, as Beijing slams Iran war: War 'should never have started'
US President Donald Trump said Chinese leader Xi Jinping agreed that Tehran should reopen the Strait of Hormuz, although China has given no sign of getting involved in the matter, according to Reuters.
On his return flight from Beijing on Friday after two days of talks with Xi, Trump said he was considering lifting US sanctions on Chinese oil companies that buy Iranian oil. China is the largest buyer of Iranian oil.
“I'm not asking for any favors, because when you ask for favors you have to return the favor,” Donald Trump said when asked by a reporter aboard Air Force One if Xi Jinping had made a firm commitment to pressure the Iranians to reopen the route.
Xi Jinping has not commented on the talks with Donald Trump on Iran, but China's Foreign Ministry criticized the war, describing it as a conflict “that should never have started and has no reason to continue”.
“We want the strait to be opened”
Iran virtually closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world's oil and liquefied natural gas supplies previously transited, before the US and Israel launched the February 28 attacks. The disruption to shipping caused the biggest oil supply crisis in history, and prices soared.
Ebrahim Azizi, the head of the national security committee in Iran's parliament, said on Saturday that Tehran had prepared a mechanism to manage traffic through the strait on a designated route to be unveiled soon.
Azizi said that only commercial vessels and actors cooperating with Iran would benefit from this mechanism and that fees would be charged for specialized services provided under it.
The US suspended its attacks last month but began a port blockade. Tehran, which has launched attacks on Israel, US bases and Gulf states since the outbreak of war, has said it will not reopen the strait until the US ends the blockade. Donald Trump has threatened to resume attacks if Iran does not accept a deal.
“We don't want them to get the nuclear weapon, we want the strait to be open,” Trump said in Beijing alongside Xi Jinping.
Iran, which has long denied it plans to build a nuclear weapon, has refused to halt nuclear research or give up its hidden stockpile of enriched uranium, much to Trump's frustration.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Tehran had received messages from the US indicating Washington's willingness to continue negotiations.
“We hope that as the negotiations move forward, we will reach a good outcome so that the Strait of Hormuz can be fully secured and we can speed up the return of traffic to normal,” he told reporters in New Delhi.
Trump, who said in an interview with Fox News that aired Thursday on “Hannity” that he was losing patience with Iran, said Tehran “should accept a deal.”
The price of oil rose by about 3% on Friday, to around $109 a barrel, amid concerns about the lack of progress in resolving the conflict.
Negotiations to end the war, which has become a political issue for Trump ahead of November's US congressional elections, have been deadlocked since last week after Iran and the US rejected each other's latest proposals.
Araqchi said on Friday that Iran would welcome China's involvement in the talks and added that Tehran is trying to give diplomacy a chance but does not trust the US, which has disrupted previous rounds of talks by launching airstrikes.
