US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he had written to Chinese President Xi Jinping asking him not to supply weapons to Iran, and that Xi had responded assuring him Beijing was not doing so. Trump made the disclosure in an interview with Fox Business.
Trump said he had written to Xi due to concerns over arms sales amid the ongoing US and Israeli war on Iran. The exchange came ahead of a high-profile summit between the two leaders scheduled for next month.
In a social media post, Trump said China is "very happy" over what the US' naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.
"China is very happy that I am permanently opening the Strait of Hormuz. I am doing it for them, also - And the World. This situation will never happen again. They have agreed not to send weapons to Iran (sic)," he said on Truth Social.
"President Xi will give me a big, fat, hug when I get there in a few weeks. We are working together smartly, and very well! Doesn't that beat fighting??? BUT REMEMBER, we are very good at fighting, if we have to - far better than anyone else (sic)," he added.
Trump had already raised the stakes sharply last week, warning that any country caught arming Iran would face severe economic consequences. He told reporters that any country assisting Iran would be slapped with a 50% tariff — "a staggering amount" — and said China specifically would face "big problems" if it did so.
Beijing, for its part, has denied the allegations. Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun dismissed reports of weapons transfers as "groundless smears and malicious associations" and said China stood ready to "play a positive and constructive role" in resolving the situation.
China, reportedly, supplied Iran with a range of weapons before the current conflict, including air defense systems, among them were HQ-9B long-range surface-to-air missile batteries.
Moreover, Washington has long harboured fears that Beijing could replenish Iran's depleted defences, particularly after a US fighter jet was shot down over Iran on April 3, with Iranian officials suggesting they had used new or upgraded air-defence capabilities, sharpening US concerns about potential foreign arms transfers.
In the same statement, Trump also said he did not expect the war with Iran or developments in Venezuela to alter the dynamics of his planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping next month, arguing that energy market shifts would not affect the talks. “He's somebody that needs oil. We don't,” Trump said.
Trump has invested substantial political capital in his summit with Xi, which has already been postponed once because of the war, and a US blockade halting ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz risks a direct diplomatic confrontation with Beijing, which depends heavily on Gulf oil supplies.
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In 2025, China imported roughly half its crude oil and nearly a third of its liquefied natural gas from the Middle East.
The letter exchange between Trump and Xi, while offering a temporary diplomatic assurance, underscores the fragility of the broader situation — with the Iran war threatening to fracture US-China relations at precisely the moment both sides claim to be seeking a summit.
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