By Trevor Hunnicutt and Jana Choukeir
BEIJING/DUBAI, May 15 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump said his patience with Iran was running out and that he had agreed in talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping that Tehran could not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon and must reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
With official agreements from the U.S.-China summit yet to be released, Trump’s comments gave little indication of whether Beijing, the main buyer of Iranian oil, might use its influence with Tehran to end a conflict it said should never have started.
“We’ve settled a lot of different problems that other people wouldn’t have been able to settle,” Trump said on Friday after he met Xi in Beijing on the second day of talks which included the Iran war, Taiwan, trade and other issues.
Xi did not comment on his discussions with Trump about Iran, although China’s foreign ministry issued a blunt statement outlining Beijing’s frustration with the Iran war.
“This conflict, which should never have happened, has no reason to continue,” the ministry said.
Iran effectively shut the strait to most shipping traffic in response to U.S.-Israeli attacks which began on February 28, causing an unprecedented disruption to global energy supplies.
The U.S. paused its attacks on Iran last month but began a blockade of the country’s ports. Tehran said it would not unblock the strait until the U.S. ended its blockade. Trump has threatened to attack Iran again if it does not agree a deal.
“We don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon, we want the straits open,” Trump said in Beijing.
Iran, which denies it intends to build a nuclear weapon, has refused to end its nuclear program or relinquish its hidden stockpile of enriched uranium, to Trump’s frustration.
“I am not going to be much more patient. They should make a deal,” Trump said in an interview aired on Thursday night on Fox News’ “Hannity” program, suggesting the enriched uranium only needed to be secured by the U.S. for public relations purposes.
After talks between Trump and Xi on Thursday, the White House said that Xi had made clear China’s opposition to the militarisation of the waterway and any effort to charge a toll for its use, as Iran has threatened to do.
Trump said Xi also promised not to send Iran military equipment. “He said he’s not going to give military equipment, that’s a big statement,” Trump said on “Hannity”.
IRAN VOWS TO CONTINUE THE FIGHT
The war has become an electoral liability for Trump as it drags on towards key U.S. midterm elections in November.
China has dismissed reports it had plans to supply weapons to Iran as “groundless smears”, but analysts doubt Xi will be willing to push Iran hard or end support for its military, given its value as a strategic counterweight to the United States.
Iran’s army chief, Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi Hatami, said the armed forces would continue defending the country “until the last drop of blood”, according to state media.
Talks on ending the war, mediated by Pakistan, have been on hold since last week when Iran and the U.S. each rejected the other’s most recent proposals.
Before the war, about a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas as well as fertilizer and other vital supplies passed through the Strait of Hormuz. Attacks on shipping have prevented almost all traffic although a huge Chinese tanker crossed the strait on Wednesday.
An Indian vessel carrying livestock from Africa to the United Arab Emirates was sunk on Wednesday off the coast of Oman and Iranians were reported on Thursday to have boarded a ship off the UAE port of Fujairah and steered it towards Iran.
Fujairah is the UAE’s sole oil port on the Gulf of Oman, just outside the Strait of Hormuz, and enables some shipments to reach markets without passing through the chokepoint. The UAE said on Friday it would speed up construction of a new pipeline to the port to expand its ability to bypass the strait.
LEBANON TALKS AIM TO EXTEND CEASEFIRE
Thousands of Iranians were killed during the U.S. and Israeli air strikes, and thousands more people have been killed in Lebanon since the war reignited fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed group Hezbollah.
With a fragile ceasefire in Lebanon due to expire on Sunday, discussions between Lebanese and Israeli officials were set to continue on Friday after what a senior State Department official said were productive talks on Thursday. Hezbollah opposes the talks, in which Israel is insisting on the group’s disarmament.
Trump said his aims in starting the war were to destroy Iran’s nuclear program, end its ability to attack neighbors and make it easier for Iranians to overthrow their government.
A senior U.S. admiral told a U.S. Senate committee on Thursday Iran’s ability to threaten its neighbours and U.S. regional interests had been “significantly degraded”.
But Admiral Brad Cooper declined to directly address reports by Reuters and other news organisations that Iran had retained significant missile and drone capabilities.
Iran’s rulers, who used force to suppress anti-government protests at the start of the year, have faced no organised opposition since the war began. And their grip on the strait has given them additional leverage in negotiations.
Iran is seeking the lifting of sanctions, reparations for war damage and acknowledgment of its control over the strait.
(Reporting by Reuters Newsrooms, Writing by Stephen Coates and Philippa Fletcher; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan and Gareth Jones)
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