BOMBSHELL: China May Pressure Iran After Trump Summit

Chinese President Xi Jinping told President Donald Trump during their bilateral summit in Beijing on Thursday, May 14, 2026, that China would like to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the strategically critical waterway that has been effectively closed to global commerce since Iran blocked it in response to the American and Israeli military campaign that began February 28, making it the most significant diplomatic development of the Trump-Xi summit and potentially the most consequential geopolitical outcome of Trump’s entire China visit.

Trump told Sean Hannity that Xi told him he would like to help open the Strait of Hormuz. Trump also claimed that Xi said he’s not going to give Iran any military equipment.

According to the White House, “The two sides agreed that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open to support the free flow of energy. President Xi also made clear China’s opposition to the militarization of the Strait and any effort to charge a toll for its use, and he expressed interest in purchasing more American oil to reduce China’s dependence on the Strait in the future.”

The White House readout’s three elements, agreement that the strait must remain open, opposition to its militarization, and Xi’s interest in purchasing American oil to reduce Chinese dependence on the strait, together represent the most specific and consequential joint statement on the Iran conflict that the two powers have produced since the war began in February.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, speaking from Beijing while the summit was ongoing, provided the clearest articulation of the economic logic driving China’s interest in Hormuz reopening.

“China will use its influence on Iran to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz,” Bessent said. “It’s very much in their interest to get the strait reopened.”

He continued: “I think they will be working behind the scenes to the extent anyone has any say over the Iranian leadership.”

China is the largest crude oil importer in the world. About 10% of its imports came from Iran and more than half came from the Middle East in 2024, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

“China has a much bigger interest in reopening the strait than the US does,” Bessent said.

China does not need American persuasion to want the Strait of Hormuz open. The strait carries the oil that powers the Chinese economy, including Iranian oil that constitutes approximately 10 percent of China’s total crude imports and Middle Eastern oil that accounts for more than half of China’s total crude supply.

Iran has blockaded the strait since early March in response to US and Israeli airstrikes that killed many of its leaders, including its head of state. The blockade has cut off Persian Gulf oil exports to the global market, triggering the biggest supply disruption in history.

Some 20% of the world’s crude oil transited through the strait before the war.

Chinese vessels began passing through the strait following an understanding over Iranian management protocols for the passage, Iranian state-run media reported.

That development suggests that China and Iran have already been engaged in quiet bilateral discussions about the strait’s management that have produced at least partial results.

Chinese commercial vessels transiting a waterway that Iran has nominally blockaded represents a specific exercise of Chinese diplomatic influence over Iranian decision-making.

The physical presence of commercial vessels waiting at the strait entrance is the human and commercial face of the economic crisis that the Hormuz closure has produced.

Global shipping companies, energy consumers across Asia and Europe, and the financial markets that price oil and gas have all been managing the consequences of the most significant supply disruption in maritime history for more than two months.

Xi’s offer to help and the apparent partial movement on Chinese vessel transit represent the first concrete diplomatic progress toward resolving that disruption since the ceasefire was declared in April.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said President Trump did not ask China for help with Iran during the summit in Beijing.

“He didn’t ask them for anything,” Rubio said. “We’re not asking for China’s help. We don’t need their help.”

Rubio also said the US and China both oppose militarizing the Strait of Hormuz and the establishment of a tolling system for ships going through.

Iran has been seeking to establish a toll or control mechanism over Hormuz transit as a revenue and leverage tool, a proposal that would fundamentally alter the international legal status of the strait.

At a state banquet later, Trump said he was inviting Xi and his wife for a reciprocal visit at the White House on Sept. 24.

Trump said Xi had congratulated him “on so many tremendous successes in such a short period of time.”

“Hopefully our relationship with China will be stronger and better than ever before,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

China is Iran’s most important economic partner, its primary oil customer, and effectively the financial lifeline that has sustained the Iranian economy through years of American sanctions.

If China chooses to use that economic leverage to pressure Tehran toward a Hormuz reopening and a nuclear deal, the effect on Iranian decision-making could be substantial.

Nearly all of Iran’s crude oil exports go to China.

That economic relationship gives China a form of leverage over Iran that is qualitatively different from the military and sanctions pressure the United States has been applying.

The oil price implications of a Hormuz reopening are significant for the American economy and for Trump’s political standing heading into the November midterms.

Oil prices at elevated levels are directly driving higher gasoline prices and broader inflation pressure.

A Hormuz reopening that returns global oil supply toward pre-war levels would produce a significant decline in energy prices, reducing inflation pressure and stimulating consumer spending.

A 26-nation statement on Hormuz freedom of navigation was released to coincide with the Trump-Xi summit, signed by Britain, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Canada, Qatar, Bahrain, and others.

China was not one of the 26 nations, making its bilateral alignment with the United States on the issue more diplomatically significant.

Xi said: “A stable bilateral relationship is good for the world. We should be partners, not rivals.”

Trump emphasized his personal relationship with Xi, calling him a friend and a “great leader” and saying the two have always been able to work out their disagreements.

“We’re going to have a fantastic future together,” Trump said.

The two-day Beijing summit, with its dinner inside the Forbidden City, its Temple of Heaven photo opportunity, its Boeing order, its beef trade restoration, its joint Iran statement, and Xi’s offer to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, has produced a substantive record that both leaders can characterize as a success.