Author: Trevor Hunnicutt and Jana Jockell
AIR FORCE ONE/DUBAI, May 16 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping has agreed that Tehran must reopen the Strait of Hormuz, although China has given no indication it will intervene.
Trump, who flew back from Beijing on Friday after two days of talks with Xi, said he was considering whether to lift U.S. sanctions on Chinese oil companies buying Iranian oil. China is the largest buyer of Iranian oil.
When asked by a reporter aboard Air Force One whether Xi Jinping was firmly committed to pressuring Iran to reopen the vital strait, Trump said: “I’m not asking for any favors, because when you ask for favors, you have to give back.”
Xi Jinping did not comment on his discussions with Trump on Iran, although China’s Foreign Ministry expressed dismay at the war with Iran, saying it was a conflict that “should never happen at all and has no reason to continue.”
“We want the strait to be open”
Before the U.S. and Israeli attacks on February 28, Iran effectively blocked the strait, which carries a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas supplies. The shipping disruption triggered the largest oil supply crisis in history, sending oil prices soaring.
Thousands of Iranians have been killed in U.S. and Israeli airstrikes, as have fresh fighting in Lebanon between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah.
The United States suspended attacks last month but began blocking ports. Tehran says it will not lift its blockade of the strait until the United States ends the blockade. Trump has threatened to resume attacks if Iran does not agree to a deal.
“We don’t want them to have nuclear weapons, we want the strait to be open,” Trump said alongside Xi Jinping in Beijing.
To Trump’s dismay, Iran has long denied it intends to build a nuclear weapon but has refused to end nuclear research or give up its hidden stockpile of enriched uranium.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Tehran had received a message from the United States indicating Washington’s willingness to continue negotiations.
“We hope that as the negotiations progress, we can achieve good results to completely guarantee the security of the Strait of Hormuz and speed up the normalization of traffic in the Strait,” he told reporters in New Delhi.
Trump said in an interview on Fox News’ “Hannity” show that aired Thursday that he was losing patience with Iran and said Tehran “should make a deal.”
Oil prices rose about 3% on Friday to around $109 a barrel [O/R] Concerns about lack of progress in resolving the conflict, while U.S. Treasury yields [US/] Interest rates hit their highest level in a year on expectations that the Federal Reserve may need to raise interest rates.
Since Iran and the United States each rejected the other’s latest proposal last week, negotiations to end the war have become a burden for Trump ahead of U.S. congressional elections in November.
Araqchi said on Friday that Iran would welcome China’s input, adding that Tehran was trying to give diplomacy a chance but did not trust the United States, which had limited previous rounds of talks by launching air strikes.
(Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt and Jana Choukeir, additional reporting by Reuters newsroom; Writing by William Mallard; Editing by Tom Hogue)