Trump says he would be ‘disappointed’ if China arms Iran, trusts Xi and Putin’s word

New Delhi: The United States president, Donald Trump, has said he would be “quite disappointed” if China went ahead and supplied weapons to Iran, even as fresh reports suggest Beijing may be preparing to send Tehran a consignment of shoulder-fired missiles. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump was asked to respond to reports that China could send up to 400 man-portable air-defence systems to Iran, reportedly via Pakistan.

“That would be surprising. I mean, things like that happen, but that would be surprising,” he said, adding that the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, “told me very strongly he wouldn’t partake, and he knows I’d be quite disappointed.”

Trump traced the assurance back to his meeting with Xi in Beijing in May, when, he said, the Chinese leader gave an explicit commitment that China would not, under any circumstances, give or sell weapons to Iran – a pledge Trump said extended to Chinese companies as well as the state. “Considering our relationship, I take him at his word,” he said.

Trump said the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, had made a comparable pledge despite Moscow’s continuing war in Ukraine. He drew a distinction between direct US arms sales to Kyiv, which he said do not happen, and sales to Nato members, who he said pay full price and then decide independently how the equipment is distributed. “I trust them,” he said of Xi and Putin, adding that he did not believe either leader would want to jeopardise ties with Washington over Iran.

The remarks follow a Truth Social post last week in which Trump said both China and Russia had agreed to withhold arms from Tehran, and warned it would be “very bad” for either country should that commitment be broken.

The latest exchange follows intelligence assessments, also reported by RNA Media, suggesting Beijing was preparing to deliver new air-defence equipment to Iran at a time when Tehran is seeking to rebuild depleted military stocks with the help of foreign partners. Iran’s air defences and missile arsenal were significantly degraded during its conflict with Israel and the US in June.

China’s foreign ministry has rejected the reports outright, calling them “completely groundless” and saying Beijing has consistently worked to promote peace and end the conflict. Pakistan’s military public relations wing, the Inter-Services Public Relations, has also denied any involvement in facilitating a transfer of the missile launchers to Iran.

The exchange comes as the US Central Command (Centcom) has said its forces have supported the safe passage of nearly 1,000 vessels through the Strait of Hormuz since the ceasefire between Israel and Iran took hold, underlining Washington’s continued focus on the security of one of the world’s most sensitive oil shipping routes. Iran had earlier threatened to close the strait, through which roughly a fifth of global oil supply passes, in retaliation for US and Israeli strikes on its nuclear and military facilities.

Any confirmed transfer of Chinese-made air-defence systems to Iran would sit uneasily against Beijing’s public position of neutrality on the conflict, and would test the limits of the assurances Trump says he has received directly from Xi.