New attacks reported on ships near Hormuz as Trump discusses Iran with Xi

BEIJING – US President Donald Trump discussed the Iran war with China’s President Xi Jinping in Beijing on May 14, while new attacks on vessels near the Strait of Hormuz brought a reminder of the costs of a prolonged stalemate, with peace talks stalled.

After Mr Trump and Mr Xi met, a White House official said the leaders had agreed that the strait should be open, and that Iran should never obtain nuclear weapons.

China is close to Iran and the main buyer of its oil.

In an interview with CNBC in Beijing, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he believed China would “do what they can” to help open the strait, which he said was “very much in their interest”.

But diplomacy to end the war has been on hold since last week, when Iran and the US each rejected the other’s latest proposals, sticking to initial demands that each considers to be “red lines”.

Iran has largely shut the Strait of Hormuz to ships apart from its own since the US and Israel launched their bombing campaign 2½ months ago, causing the biggest ever disruption to global energy supplies. The US paused the bombing in April but added a blockade of Iran’s ports.

In the latest incident on the trade route, an Indian cargo vessel carrying livestock from Africa to the United Arab Emirates was sunk on May 14 in waters off the coast of Oman.

India condemned the attack and said all 14 crew members were rescued by the Omani Coast Guard. Vanguard, a British maritime security advisory firm, said the vessel had been hit by a missile or drone, which caused an explosion.

Separately, British maritime security agency UKMTO reported on May 14 that “unauthorised personnel” had boarded a ship anchored off the coast of the UAE port of Fujairah, and were steering it towards Iran.

Security in that area is particularly sensitive, as Fujairah is the UAE’s sole oil port on the far side of the strait, allowing some exports to reach markets without passing through it.

Iran included that part of the coast on an expanded map it released last week of waters it claimed were under its control.

Iran has lately been letting the occasional ship pass through the strait under special agreements. It let a Japanese tanker through on May 13. Its Fars news agency reported on May 14 an agreement to let some Chinese ships pass.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said 30 vessels had crossed the strait since the evening of May 13, still far short of some 140 that typically crossed daily before the war, but a substantial increase if confirmed.

Iran’s judiciary spokesman Asghar Jahangir said on May 14 the seizure of “US tankers” violating Iranian regulations was being carried out under domestic and international law.

Little progress

After intensively bombing Iran for six weeks, the US and Israel paused their campaign more than a month ago to allow for what Mr Trump said were promising peace talks. But after a single round of talks in Pakistan in April, there has been little progress and no further face-to-face meetings.

Mr Trump had said his aims in starting the war were to destroy Iran’s nuclear programme, end its capability to attack its neighbours and make it easier for Iranians to overthrow their government.

But none of those objectives has been achieved so far, with Iran still in possession of more than 400kg of near-weapons-grade uranium, and missiles and drones with demonstrated ability to hit neighbours.

Iran’s rulers, who had to use force to put down anti-government protests at the start of the year, have faced no organised opposition since the war began. And their new-found ability to close off the strait has given them additional leverage in negotiations.

Washington wants Tehran to hand over the uranium and forgo further enrichment. Iran is seeking the lifting of sanctions, reparations for war damage and acknowledgement of its control over the strait.

Mr Trump’s trip to China, initially scheduled for the end of March, was postponed because of the war at a time when he was predicting a quick end to it. In the end, he travelled with the stand-off still unresolved, allowing it to loom over the first visit by a US president in nearly a decade.

The US hopes to convince China “to play a more active role in getting Iran to walk away from what they’re doing now and trying to do now in the Persian Gulf”, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News in an interview on board Air Force One en route to China.

“We’ve made clear to them that any support for Iran would obviously be detrimental for our relationship.” REUTERS