Trump Says He Spoke With China’s Xi About Iran
Chinese leader had talked earlier with Putin about rising tensions surrounding the Middle Eastern country
WASHINGTON—President Trump said he spoke Wednesday with Xi Jinping about the “situation in Iran,” hours after the Chinese leader held a call with Moscow on those same escalating tensions.
The sequence of the calls underscored the divide among the world’s major powers over the Middle East. In a social-media post, Trump highlighted the trade aspects of his conversation with Xi that included China’s purchases—by the country that is the largest buyer of Iranian oil—of U.S. oil and gas.
During Xi’s videoconference with Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier Wednesday, the two leaders appeared to be hardening in a united front. According to Putin’s foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov, Xi and Putin “checked their approaches,” aligning their positions on global flashpoints, including over Iran, Venezuela and Cuba.
For both Beijing and Moscow, Iran represents a critical linchpin in the Middle East that they are increasingly unwilling to see destabilized. “Beijing and Moscow’s concern over Washington’s potential military strike against Iran is at a new level,” said Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Washington-based Stimson Center.
The Trump-Xi call comes amid renewed U.S. threats against Tehran, as the Trump administration seeks to balance military escalation with a push for diplomacy. While Trump has deployed a naval task force including the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln to the region and threatened strikes following an Iranian crackdown on protesters, he is also pressing for a deal to curb Iran’s nuclear and missile programs.
Critical talks over Iran, originally slated to take place in Turkey with Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner, hit a snag Tuesday when Iran demanded a venue change to Oman and a U.S.-only audience. While regional officials agreed to a Friday meeting in Oman, debates continue over the scope of the agenda and whether officials from other interested countries would join them.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio noted Wednesday that Iran’s shifting terms risk delays and expressed skepticism about the likelihood of a breakthrough. Still, Rubio said the U.S. remained open to dialogue.
“I’m not sure you can reach a deal with these guys, but we’re going to try to find out,” Rubio told reporters.
Despite Iran tensions, Trump sounded optimistic after his call with Xi. “The relationship with China, and my personal relationship with President Xi, is an extremely good one,” Trump wrote in his social-media post. He said both leaders know the importance of keeping that bond, despite Trump’s previous threat to slap a 25% tariff on any country that continues to trade with Iran.
The White House didn’t comment beyond Trump’s post.
The leaders are expected to meet in person in China in April, with Xi invited to the U.S. for a state visit later this year.
While Trump portrayed the call as an “excellent” discussion, Xi offered a more measured tone. According to the Chinese account issued by the official Xinhua News Agency, Xi told Trump that “the U.S. has its concerns, and China has its concerns,” and said a solution could be found if both sides approached each other with “reciprocity.”
Xi said that “China is true in word and resolute in deed,” in an apparent signal that any Chinese concessions on Iran would be contingent on Washington meeting Beijing’s demands to protect its own interests.
“Xi’s overall posture with Trump, and particularly on Iran, is one of risk management,” said Daniel Russel, a former senior State Department official now with the Asia Society Policy Institute. “He is interested in protecting China’s equities, not protecting Iran.” Russel noted that “Xi has competing equities here: he wants stability and de-escalation to keep the flow and the price of oil steady and prevent disruption of shipping lanes China depends on.”
At the same time, Russel added, watching the U.S. military become stretched across the Caribbean and the Middle East “suits China’s interests just fine.”
Beijing has so far been reluctant to stand more firmly behind Iran, mirroring its caution to offer significant support for Venezuela before the U.S. raid to seize President Nicolás Maduro.
Xi and Trump last met face-to-face in October on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea and reached an agreement that included a reduction in stiff U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods in exchange for a pledge by China to crack down on the trade in the chemicals used to produce fentanyl.
They followed that up with a phone call in November initiated by Xi, which focused on Taiwan, as Japan adopted a more assertive stance on the island’s autonomy.
During Wednesday’s call with Trump, Xi reaffirmed that Taiwan remains the “most important” issue in the bilateral relationship, according to the Chinese account. He also urged caution on U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, the democratic, self-governing island China claims as part of its territory.