US President Donald Trump has said he asked Chinese President Xi Jinping in a letter not to supply weapons to Iran, and that Xi responded stating China is not doing so, according to comments made in an interview with Fox Business.
In the interview, which was recorded on Tuesday and broadcast on Wednesday, Trump did not specify when the letters were exchanged. He said last week he had threatened countries with immediate 50% tariffs if they supplied arms to Iran.
“I wrote him a letter asking him not to do it, and he wrote me a letter saying, essentially, that he is not doing it,” Trump said.
Who needs oil?
The US President also said he does not expect changes in global oil markets due to the conflict involving Iran, nor that developments in Venezuela would affect his upcoming meeting with Xi next month.
“He’s somebody that needs oil. We don’t,” Trump said, referring to China.
Trump is scheduled to visit Beijing on 14 and 15 May. The meeting had originally been planned for earlier, between late March and early April, but was postponed due to the war in the Middle East.
In a subsequent post on Truth Social, Trump also claimed he was “opening permanently” the Strait of Hormuz and that China was pleased with the move.
Xi's 'big beautiful hug'
“I am doing it for them — and (for) the World,” he wrote, adding: “President Xi will give me a big, beautiful hug when I arrive there in a few weeks.”
It is not immediately clear what Trump was referring to, as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz reportedly remains significantly reduced. The White House did not immediately respond to requests for clarification.
Forty-five days after Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps declared the strait effectively closed—impacting around 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas flows—traffic through the waterway remains uncertain, even under a temporary ceasefire in place for the past two weeks.
According to sources cited on Tuesday, maritime traffic is still only a fraction of the more than 130 daily transits recorded before the conflict.
Trump also said talks with Tehran to end the war could resume this week, after discussions ended over the weekend without agreement. However, the US military has also imposed restrictions on vessels leaving Iranian ports, which it said have effectively halted maritime trade to and from the country.
The US President further told Fox Business that the United States could destroy every bridge and power plant in Iran within one hour.