President Donald Trump revealed this Wednesday that he exchanged letters with Chinese President Xi Jinping regarding China's arms supply to Iran, and that the Chinese leader assured him that his country is not making those shipments.
Trump made the revelation in an interview with Fox Business, recorded on Tuesday, where he described Xi's response as a beautiful letter. He responded to a letter I wrote him because he had heard that China is providing weapons to Iran. I wrote him a letter asking him not to do that, and he wrote me back saying that he’s essentially not doing that," Trump stated.
The epistolary exchange occurs at a time of high tension, following intelligence reports cited by CNN and the New York Times, between April 11 and 13, warning of possible Chinese shipments of portable anti-aircraft missiles to Iran via third countries.
These reports gained greater significance following the downing of a U.S. F-15E over Iran on April 3, which heightened concerns regarding Chinese anti-air systems in Iranian hands.
On April 8, Trump announced immediate 50% tariffs on all goods from any country supplying military weapons to Iran, directly targeting China and Russia. Four days later, on April 12, he warned on Fox News: "If we catch them doing that, I'll impose a tariff of 50%."
China categorically denied the accusations. A spokesperson for its embassy in Washington stated that "China has never supplied weapons to any party in the conflict; the information is false."
Despite the tensions, Trump expressed optimism about his relationship with Xi and emphasized that the conflict with Iran will not disrupt the scheduled bilateral summit in Beijing on May 14 and 15. "He's someone who needs oil. We don't. He's someone I get along very well with," Trump said about the Chinese leader.
The exchange of letters takes place within the context of the armed conflict between the United States and Israel against Iran, which began on February 28 with Operation Epic Fury, which destroyed Iranian nuclear facilities and resulted in the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on March 1.
A temporary ceasefire of two weeks, mediated by Pakistan, took effect on April 7, but will expire on April 21 with violations reported by both sides.
The peace negotiations held in Islamabad from April 10 to 12 failed after 21 hours without an agreement on the dismantling of Iran's nuclear program, keeping the possibility of a resumption of conflict open when the truce expires.
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