US President Donald Trump said that he had agreed in talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping that Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon and must re-open the Strait of Hormuz, while saying that his patience with Iran was “running out”.
“We’ve settled a lot of different problems that other people wouldn’t have been able to solve,” Trump said on Friday after he met Xi in Beijing on the second day of talks which included the Iran war, Taiwan, trade and other issues.
Iran effectively shut the strait to most shipping traffic in response to U.S.-Israeli attacks which began on February 28, causing an unprecedented disruption to global energy supplies. China is close to Iran and the main buyer of its oil.
Meanwhile, a senior State Department official said talks between Lebanese and Israeli officials on Thursday in Washington were productive and positive and were set to continue on Friday. They were the start of full negotiations between the enemy states, as Israel continues to violate an April truce.
Israel’s military called on residents of five villages in southern Lebanon to immediately evacuate on Friday ahead of expected strikes.
