US President Donald Trump said that China’s leader Xi Jinping offered during their talks Thursday to help resolve the conflict between the US and Iran.
China has close ties to Iran and is the number one consumer of Iranian oil.
“President Xi would like to see a deal made. He would, he would like to see a deal made. And he did offer. He said, ‘If I can be of any help at all, I would like to be of help,’” Trump told Fox News’ Sean Hannity in an interview taped after the first of two days of high-stakes discussions.
Trump added: “He would like to see the Hormuz Strait open.”
The president had been widely expected to push China to pressure Iran to accept a peace deal and to open the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil thoroughfare that has been largely shut down amid the war. A US readout of the meeting said that China agreed that the strait “must remain open” and that China is opposed to militarization and a toll for the strait, points that largely align with China’s prior statements.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a separate interview with NBC News Thursday that the US did not ask for China’s help and that “we don’t need their help.”
“We raised the issue to make clear what our position is and to make it clear so they understand, because it’s logical. We would talk about it, given how dominant that issue is,” Rubio told NBC.
Source: CNN
-- Agencies
