As of earlier this month, talks to end the Iran war paused when Iran dismissed the United States peace proposal and instead sent their own proposal, which did not include anything about provisions limiting Iran’s nuclear program. Iran’s peace proposal did, however, include a notion of ending the war and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for over twenty countries.
President Donald Trump stated that the ceasefire with Iran was on life support because of the “Piece of Garbage” peace proposal. The Trump administration has also unveiled new Iran sanctions which include threatening penalties to financial institutions who facilitate oil transactions between Iran and China, one of the biggest oil buyers of Iran. The US has also shown no attempt to loosen their hold on Iranian ports.
The United States has also fired upon and disabled two of Iran’s oil tankers as tensions in the Strait of Hormuz continue to rise. The US military tried to justify this attack by saying that these oil tankers were trying to go through the US blockade of the Iranian ports.
Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping have set up a meeting to discuss China’s involvement in the war. Although China is not a direct ally of the United States, they do have a strategic mindset when it comes to world affairs. Trump has been unsuccessful in the past when having meetings with China to get support in the war and because of this, the White House has set low expectations for support to come out of these meetings.
According to The Guardian, President Xi said of these meetings, “US and China should be partners, not rivals.”
In the meeting with China,Trump is hoping to persuade them to use their leverage to help insist that Iran take the US deal to end the two month midwest war or at the minimum, open the strait of Hormuz.
Although Trump hailed that the meeting was a success, the summit ended with no major progress reported to the public on matters regarding the middle east, but Trump toasted Xi as “my friend” at the banquet in Beijing and the New York Times reported that Trump said Xi had “become really a friend.”
Iran still vows to fight Trump and the administration on the ceasefire and the peace proposal.
