Trump says Xi offered to help mediate peace with Iran: 'We want Strait of Hormuz open'

US President Donald Trump said Friday that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping were aligned in seeking an end to the war involving Iran and Israel.

“We feel very similar about how we want it to end,” Trump said after meeting Xi in Beijing. “We don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon.”

Trump said the two leaders also agreed that shipping through the Strait of Hormuz — the narrow waterway through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies pass — should resume after Iran effectively shut it amid the conflict.

“We want the straits open,” Trump said.

The comments came after Trump and Xi held talks over tea followed by a closed-door lunch in the Chinese capital, where the Iran conflict and global energy security dominated the agenda.

China’s Foreign Ministry said after the meeting that Beijing continued to support a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

“Now that the door for dialogue has been opened, then it shouldn’t be shut again,” the ministry said in a statement, adding that any resolution should “take into account the concerns of all parties on the Iran nuclear issue.”

“Shipping routes should be reopened as soon as possible,” the ministry said.

Trump has demanded that Iran roll back its nuclear program as a condition for ending the war.

In an interview with Fox News, Trump said Xi had offered to help mediate an end to the conflict.

“He said, ‘I would love to be a help, if I can be of any help whatsoever,’” Trump said.

Trump also said Xi told him China would not provide military equipment to Iran.

“He said he’s not going to give military equipment,” Trump said. “That’s a big statement.”

The pledge did not address questions about China’s support for Iran, including intelligence cooperation, electronics exports and continued purchases of Iranian crude oil.

China is Iran’s largest oil customer, providing Tehran with a critical economic lifeline despite US sanctions. Trump administration officials have hoped Beijing would use that leverage to push Iran toward a nuclear agreement acceptable to Washington.

Trump said Xi made clear that China intended to continue buying Iranian oil.

“He said they buy a lot of their oil there and they’d like to keep doing that,” Trump said.

A White House readout said Xi agreed with Trump that Iran cannot be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon and expressed interest in purchasing more US oil to reduce China’s future dependence on shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.

“The two sides agreed that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open to support the free flow of energy,” the White House said. “President Xi also made clear China’s opposition to the militarization of the Strait and any effort to charge a toll for its use.”