Trump Hails Hormuz Shift While His Blockade Still Holds
- Trump praised open shipping lanes while his Iran port blockade still remained in place.
- His China claim drew notice as officials confirmed trade limits stayed firmly in force.
- The message projected order, yet the policy still looked split and oddly unresolved.
President Donald Trump said Wednesday that China supports U.S. efforts to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and has agreed not to send weapons to Iran. He claimed Truth Social as Washington and Beijing sought to preserve a fragile détente before expected talks with President Xi Jinping. Yet the statement raised new questions because the U.S. blockade on ships traveling to and from Iranian ports remained in force.
Trump ties China to Hormuz message
Trump wrote on Truth Social that China was “very happy” that he was “permanently opening the Strait of Hormuz.” He said he was doing it for China and for the world. In the same post, Trump said China had agreed not to send weapons to Iran. He also wrote that Xi would give him “a big, fat, hug” during a visit in a few weeks.
At the same time, Washington and Beijing were trying to manage tensions before high-stakes talks. Meanwhile, Chinese officials had pushed both sides to end hostilities and reopen the route because China depends on energy shipments through it.
Blockade stays in place
Trump’s message drew scrutiny because he had imposed a blockade on ships going to and from Iranian ports earlier in the week. In parallel, Iran had already reduced traffic through the strait during the war.
CENTCOM said it turned around six merchant vessels and “completely” halted trade from Iran’s ports. Later, a senior administration official told The Hill that the blockade was “fully in effect and working.”
The same official said no ships had passed the blockade and said the measure affected only vessels traveling to and from Iranian ports. The official also said Trump wanted the strait open to support the free flow of energy, and added that countries could buy oil from the United States.
What did Trump mean by “opening” the strait while the blockade was still in place?
Related: Trump’s Hormuz Escalation Sends Oil Prices Sharply Higher
More questions follow Trump’s remarks
The Hill said it asked the White House whether Trump planned to open the shipping lane only for China or for vessels under other flags. The publication had not yet provided that clarification.
Trump repeated part of the claim in an interview with Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo. He said Xi had denied supplying weapons to Iran and had sent him “a beautiful letter” in response.
Those remarks followed reports that U.S. intelligence agencies had received recent information suggesting Beijing may have sent missiles to Tehran. The New York Times said the intelligence was not definitive and said there was no evidence that Chinese missiles had been used against American or Israeli forces.
The same interview also turned to a China-linked cyber attack on an internal agency system. Trump said, “We do it to them. They do it to us,” after the FBI called the breach a major incident.
