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World

Trump warned Xi over Chinese support for Iran and received assurances, US envoy says

US President Donald Trump warned China's Xi Jinping against supporting Iran during talks in Washington, with US ambassador David Perdue saying Beijing gave assurances it would not do so.

By Sarah Whitfield · · 1 min read

US President Donald Trump warned Chinese President Xi Jinping against providing support to Iran during talks in Washington this week, and Washington received assurances that Beijing would not do so, the US ambassador to China said on Friday.

Ambassador David Perdue told CNBC that Trump reiterated to Xi that direct or indirect support for Iran was “totally unacceptable”. Speaking separately on Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom”, Perdue said the assurances were given on Thursday: “They assured us yesterday they’re not doing that.”

The warning came amid reports that China supplied Iran with shoulder-fired air-defence missile launchers and helped Tehran evade sanctions on oil sales. Reuters reported in July that Iran was expected within weeks to receive a first shipment of up to 400 Chinese-made shoulder-fired air-defence missile launchers. US lawmakers had urged Trump to confront Xi, with concerns that Chinese entities may have given targeting help that led to US casualties in the conflict.

Trump later on Friday acknowledged that the two leaders had discussed the war the US and Israel launched on Iran in late February, without giving details. Perdue also said the two leaders agreed that “Iran will never have a nuclear weapon” and that the Strait of Hormuz should remain open with no tolls.

A counter-note emerged from Tehran: a senior Iranian official told Reuters on Friday that Chinese officials had assured Iran its ties with Tehran would not be limited under US pressure.

Sources

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