VT/BEIJING — President Donald Trump said Friday that the United States and China are aligned on two core demands: Iran must never develop a nuclear weapon, and the Strait of Hormuz must reopen to international shipping.
The White House confirmed both positions in a written readout of Thursday’s talks in the Chinese capital. “Both countries agreed that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon,” the statement said. “The two sides agreed that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open to support the free flow of energy.”
Speaking to Fox News after the meeting, Trump said Xi personally assured him Beijing would not send military equipment to Tehran. “He said he’s not going to give military equipment,” Trump said. “That’s a big statement.”
Trump added that Xi signaled a willingness to help broker an end to the conflict. “He said, ‘If I can be of any help at all, I would like to be of help,'” Trump said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, speaking to NBC News in Beijing, said China reiterated its opposition to Iran acquiring nuclear weapons and confirmed Beijing opposes both militarizing the strait and imposing any toll on commercial traffic passing through it.
Beijing’s account of the summit differed notably. China’s foreign ministry did not mention Iran in its readout of the talks, according to Xinhua, the state-run news agency. In a separate statement, the ministry said the Iran war “should never have happened.”
The strait is one of the world’s most critical energy corridors. According to the International Energy Agency, it carries roughly 25 percent of global seaborne oil trade and around 20 percent of worldwide liquefied natural gas exports. Its effective closure since the start of the U.S.-Iran conflict has tightened energy supplies and driven oil prices higher across global markets.
China is Iran’s largest oil customer and has continued buying Iranian crude throughout the conflict, Time reported.
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