Trump Pushes Xi To Break From Iran

(MENAFN- Kashmir Observer) Washington- President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed the situation in Iran in a wide-ranging call as the US administration pushes Beijing and others to further isolate Tehran.

Trump said the two leaders also discussed a broad range of other critical issues in the US-China relationship, including trade and Taiwan and his plans to visit Beijing in April.

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“The relationship with China, and my personal relationship with President Xi, is an extremely good one, and we both realise how important it is to keep it that way,” Trump said in a social media posting about the call.

The Chinese government, in a readout of the call, said the two leaders discussed major summits that both nations will host in the coming year that could present opportunities for them to meet. The Chinese statement, however, made no mention of Trump's expected April visit to Beijing.

Trump and Xi discussed Iran as tensions remain high between Washington and Tehran over Iran's bloody crackdown on nationwide protests last month. The US president says he is weighing taking military action against the Middle Eastern country.

Trump is also pressing Iran to make concessions over its nuclear programme, which his Republican administration says was already set back by the US bombing of three Iranian nuclear sites during the 12-day war Israel launched against Iran in June.

White House officials on Tuesday said special envoy Steve Witkoff is slated to take part in talks with Iranian officials later this week.

Trump announced last month that the US would impose a 25 per cent tax on imports to the United States from countries that do business with Iran. China is Iran's biggest trading partner.

Years of sanctions aimed at stopping Iran's nuclear programme have left the country isolated. But Tehran still did nearly USD 125 billion in international trade in 2024, including USD 32 billion with China, USD 28 billion with the United Arab Emirates and USD 17 billion with Turkey, the World Trade Organisation says.

China also made clear that it has no intention of stepping away from its long-term plans of reunification with Taiwan, a self-governing, democratic island operating independently from mainland China, though Beijing claims it as its own territory.

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