Trump and Xi Take Up Middle East War as Iran Pushes Seven-Day Plan
Iran has handed Washington a seven-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end regional fighting, as Trump and Xi discussed the war at their summit.
US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping turned their attention to the Middle East war during their summit on Friday, as Iran pressed Washington to accept a seven-day plan aimed at reopening the Strait of Hormuz and halting fighting across the region.
China relies heavily on Middle Eastern oil, and those flows have been disrupted by Iranian threats to tankers leaving the strait and by the advance of Iranian-allied Houthi forces along Red Sea chokepoints.
According to China's state news agency, Xi urged the United States and Iran to return to the June framework agreement that produced a short-lived ceasefire and to keep negotiating toward a broader settlement. Trump, for his part, warned Xi against supporting Iran and received assurances that China would not do so, the US ambassador to China said on the final day of Xi's three-day state visit.
The diplomacy unfolded alongside the United Nations General Assembly, where Iran and the US have been engaging through Qatari mediators.
Iran's Foreign Minister, Abbas Araqchi, told reporters at the United Nations that Tehran had conveyed a concrete seven-day plan to Washington through Qatar. He said the strait could be reopened and normal maritime passage restored within seven days if the necessary conditions are met, adding that the timeline would begin once the United States accepts the proposal and that the choice now rests with Washington.
Washington has not publicly responded to the offer. A US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said discussions through the mediators were positive and constructive and that nuclear issues remained under discussion.
Should the US agree, Araqchi said, the warring parties could begin wider talks on mutually agreed subjects. Under the plan, Tehran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and hostilities would end on all fronts, including Lebanon. In return, the United States would be required to lift its blockade on Iranian ports, release frozen Iranian funds and waive oil sanctions.
A senior Iranian official, however, said Iran would show no flexibility on its nuclear programme even if the United States accepted the peace deal, offering no concessions on what Tehran regards as its rights, including enriching uranium or shipping highly enriched uranium out of the country. Trump has vowed that Iran will never develop nuclear weapons.
The seven-day proposal follows earlier diplomatic attempts that failed to end the war, which began on February 28 with US and Israeli strikes. The conflict has alternated between pauses and renewed strikes, killing thousands, degrading Iran's conventional forces and further damaging its already ailing economy.
Iran and its allies have widened the conflict across the region. Iran has struck US allies in the Gulf with drones and missiles, while its Houthi allies in Yemen have targeted Saudi interests. Iranian-aligned militias in Iraq were blamed for a pipeline attack that temporarily removed Saudi oil from the market, and Iranian-backed Hezbollah has been engaged with Israeli forces in Lebanon.
The US warning to China came amid reports that Beijing had supplied Iran with shoulder-fired air-defence missile launchers and that Tehran had found ways to evade oil sanctions with Chinese help. David Perdue, Trump's ambassador to Beijing, said in a CNBC interview that Trump reiterated to Xi that direct or indirect support for Iran was totally unacceptable. Asked separately on Fox News whether that meant China would stop assisting Iran, Perdue said China had assured the United States it was not doing so.
The war's widening toll was also evident on the Arabian Peninsula, where Saudi Arabia's allies moved to shore up the kingdom's defences. With the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised Yemeni government under assault from Iran-linked Houthi fighters and Houthi missiles striking inside Saudi Arabia, allies of the kingdom united in support.
Defence officials of Turkey and Pakistan, both partners in a joint defence pact with Saudi Arabia, met in Riyadh on Friday to review the security situation and discuss intelligence cooperation, military coordination and the integration of forces, the Saudi defence ministry said. The statement followed a meeting of Saudi, Pakistani and Turkish foreign ministers a day earlier under the Mecca Joint Defence Agreement.
The violence in Yemen has triggered a new humanitarian crisis, the United Nations children's agency said on Friday, reporting a rise in acute malnutrition among children.