President Trump on Tuesday strongly hinted that China is helping Iran in its war with the U.S. but downplayed the situation, saying his relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping remains on solid footing.
Mr. Trump, speaking to CNBC, said there might have been Chinese material on one of the ships that U.S. forces intercepted Tuesday in the Middle East region.
“We caught a ship yesterday that had some things on it, which wasn’t very nice. A gift from China, perhaps, I don’t know,” Mr. Trump said.
He mentioned it while saying that the U.S., and probably Iran, were using the two-week ceasefire to restock depleted supplies of ammunition.
“I was a little surprised,” he said of the suspected Chinese shipment, “because I have a very good relationship and I thought I had an understanding with President Xi. But that’s all right. That’s the way war goes, right?”
Whether China is secretly supporting Iran, a longtime strategic partner, during the U.S.-Israel military operation has been a running subplot during the war.
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Mr. Trump previously said he asked Mr. Xi in writing not to support Iran and that the Chinese leader pledged not to help Tehran.
The U.S. president is scheduled to visit Mr. Xi in China in early May. Mr. Trump was supposed to go in late March, but postponed the visit because of the Iran war. It is unclear if Mr. Trump will have to delay the trip again.
China has been walking a fine line during the war. While Iran is a traditional partner, Beijing does not want the Strait of Hormuz to remain closed to oil traffic.
Tehran officials have been using limits on the strait as leverage against the U.S.
On Tuesday, an official in Beijing said the conflict is at a “critical stage.”
“In times like this, it is more imperative than ever that all sides show utmost sincerity, stick to the direction of political settlement, keep up the momentum for ceasefire and negotiation, and work for the early restoration of normal passage through the Strait of Hormuz and peace and stability in the Middle East and Gulf region,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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