Trump says China won’t send weapons to Iran amid Strait tensions
Trump said Xi Jinping told him China would not send weapons to Iran, even as U.S. intelligence had warned of possible Chinese air-defense deliveries within weeks.
Donald Trump said China had agreed not to send weapons to Iran, putting a fresh diplomatic claim at the center of already rising tension over the Strait of Hormuz and the risk of wider escalation in the Middle East.
In a Fox Business interview taped Tuesday and aired Wednesday, Trump said he had written to Chinese President Xi Jinping after reports that Beijing might supply arms to Tehran. Trump said Xi replied that China was not sending weapons to Iran. Trump did not say when the letter exchange took place, leaving the timing and substance of the communication unclear.
The claim landed against a sharper intelligence backdrop. People familiar with recent U.S. assessments said China was preparing to deliver new air defense systems to Iran within weeks. China’s Foreign Ministry rejected those allegations on April 13, calling them “groundless smears” and saying Beijing takes a prudent and responsible approach to arms exports.
Trump tied the issue to the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which a large share of global oil and gas shipments moves. He said he was “permanently opening the Strait of Hormuz” and added that China was happy about it because of its dependence on energy flows through the chokepoint. The Strait has long been one of the most sensitive pressure points in any confrontation involving Iran, and any military disruption there would immediately carry consequences for global energy markets.
Trump also said the U.S. military had turned around six merchant vessels and had “completely” halted maritime trade from Iran’s ports. If sustained, that would deepen the economic pressure on Tehran by restricting one of the country’s key trade routes at sea.
The political stakes are high if Trump’s statement reflects a real shift in Chinese policy. A Chinese decision to withhold military support would ease fears of a deeper Iran-China defense alignment. If the claim overstates Beijing’s position, it could signal a widening gap between U.S. intelligence warnings, Chinese denials and Trump’s own account of personal diplomacy with Xi.
Trump said he and Xi may meet in China in a few weeks and predicted Xi would give him a “big, fat hug,” a comment that underscored how quickly the dispute over Iran has become entangled with broader U.S.-China relations.
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