US President Donald Trump claimed that China has agreed not to supply weapons to Iran, saying he had personally raised the issue with Chinese President Xi Jinping and received assurances in return. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said Beijing was supportive of his efforts to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, a critical global oil route that has been at the centre of rising regional tensions.
“China is very happy that I am permanently opening the Strait of Hormuz. I am doing it for them, also — and the World. This situation will never happen again. They have agreed not to send weapons to Iran. President Xi will give me a big, fat hug when I get there in a few weeks. We are working together smartly, and very well! Doesn’t that beat fighting??? BUT REMEMBER, we are very good at fighting, if we have to — far better than anyone else!!!" Trump wrote.
Earlier in the day, Trump told Fox Business that he had written directly to Xi Jinping asking him to stop arming Iran and that Xi had written back.
“I had heard that China’s giving weapons to- I mean, you’re seeing it all over the place- to Iran," Trump said, adding, “And I wrote him a letter asking him not to do that, and he wrote me a letter saying that essentially he’s not doing that."
The remarks come as the Trump administration intensifies pressure on countries it believes are bolstering Iran militarily. Last week, Trump warned that nations supplying weapons to Tehran could face economic penalties including tariffs of up to 50 per cent.
Trump also defended recent US military strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, claiming they had prevented Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons in a matter of weeks.
“They would have had a nuclear weapon within weeks… and they would have used it," he said, while taking aim at the 2015 nuclear agreement negotiated under former President Barack Obama.
Trump expressed confidence that Gulf nations were unlikely to face further Iranian attacks, and said a US blockade on Iranian ports had drawn little resistance from major powers including China and Saudi Arabia.
Source: News18