Playing Nice: China Claims They Aren't Helping Iran

As the U.S.-Iran conflict continues to smolder, China appears to be playing the role of middleman (or at least trying to.) Following President Donald Trump's summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing this week, Trump said Xi pledged his help to end the conflict, agreed that the Strait of Hormuz must be reopened, and that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Beyond that, Trump told KTRH's Sean Hannity that Xi assured him China is not providing weapons or military equipment to Iran.

That last claim was met with some skepticism by critics, since Iran is a longtime ally of China. Reports say some weapons used by Iran may have come from Chinese affiliates or China-associated firms, but not from the government itself. So Xi's claim may be a matter of semantics. Still, China is keeping Iran at arm's length and not lending its full backing to the Iranians during this conflict, likely over concerns of causing more tension with the U.S. "When this conflict ends, Iran will fall back into China's orbit, because there's really no place else for it to go," says Dr. Antonio Graceffo, writer and China expert. "So Xi knows no matter what he does, he's gonna get Iran back on his side anyway, so what he would really like is just to see cheap oil flowing back to China...that's what he wants more than anything else."

Indeed, China is a major importer of Iranian oil, much of it through the Strait of Hormuz. That explains why Xi wants the Strait back open as much or more than Trump does. "They want the Strait open because they want oil prices to come back down, because it affects China much worse than the U.S.," says Graceffo.

As for what role China could play in the conflict moving forward, it will likely be insignificant. President Xi's offer of help notwithstanding, both President Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated this week that the U.S. is not asking for nor seeking China's help with Iran. "Trump didn't ask them because there's no reason to, because it makes no sense to ask them for help," says Graceffo. "We're gonna end this."

"We'd like to see our allies join, especially our Gulf allies, which is now starting to happen," he continues. "We'd like to see Europe join, and we'd like to ultimately get regime change in Iran. But no, we don't need China's help for that."