Trump says Xi agrees Iran must open strait, but China has not said it will pressure Tehran. Reuters reported that Trump made the claim after two days of talks with Xi Jinping in Beijing, as tension over the Strait of Hormuz kept rising. The strait is one of the main routes for oil and gas shipments, and Reuters said Trump did not give any clear sign that China would take action.
Trump said he was not asking China for favors and did not say Beijing had made a firm pledge to lean on Iran. He also said he was weighing whether to lift U.S. sanctions on Chinese oil firms that buy Iranian crude. Reuters said China is the biggest buyer of Iranian oil, which gives the issue extra weight in the wider Trump Xi Jinping talks.
The White House said after the talks that Xi had made clear China opposed any Iranian move to charge a toll for use of the strait. Trump also said Xi had promised not to send military equipment to Iran. Those remarks followed a summit in which Trump pressed for progress on Iran, trade and other flashpoint issues, but no public Chinese pledge was made on the strait.
China’s Foreign Ministry did not confirm Trump’s account. At a regular briefing on May 15, spokesman Guo Jiakun said China’s position on the Iran conflict was clear, said the fighting should not have happened, and called for talks instead of force. He said shipping lanes should reopen as soon as possible and that China would keep playing what it called a constructive role.
The dispute matters because the Strait of Hormuz carries a large share of global energy trade. Reuters said about one fifth of world oil and liquefied natural gas flows through the waterway in normal times. The news agency also said Iran had effectively shut the strait to most shipping after U.S.-Israeli attacks, while Tehran has said it will not reopen the route until the U.S. ends its blockade.
Reuters said the fallout has already hit markets. Oil prices rose about 3% to around 109 dollars a barrel, and U.S. Treasury yields moved to their highest level in about a year as traders watched the conflict. Trump has also threatened further strikes if Iran does not reach a deal, while Iran’s foreign minister said Tehran had received messages from Washington about continuing talks.
The standoff leaves China in a delicate spot. Beijing wants stable energy flows, but it has stopped short of publicly saying it will push Iran to act. Trump’s remarks suggest he wants Xi’s backing on the issue. China’s response shows it is still framing the crisis as a call for de-escalation and talks, not pressure on Tehran.