By Bo Erickson, Susan Heavey and Katharine Jackson
WASHINGTON, Sept 25 (Reuters) – US President Donald Trump said on Friday he discussed the Iran war with Chinese President Xi Jinping, as the US ambassador to China said Trump in White House talks made clear that Chinese help for Iran is unacceptable.
“We did,” Trump told reporters when asked whether he talked to Xi about Iran. “I think we’re going to do great.”
The US Ambassador to China David Perdue in a Friday CNBC interview said Trump reiterated to Xi that direct or indirect support for Iran was “totally unacceptable.”
Asked separately on Fox News if that meant China would stop assisting Iran, Perdue said Washington received assurances from Beijing on Thursday.
“We’ve seen movement … on that already. That’s what the commitment is. They assured us yesterday they’re not doing that,” Perdue told Fox News’ “America’s Newsroom” program.
Trump and Xi did not take formal questions during the three-day state visit to Washington.
Earlier this month, Trump brushed aside a report that Iran acquired satellite images of a base in Jordan from Chinese entities before an attack that killed three US troops there in July.
“They basically do what we do,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on September 13. “When they say China spies on us, I say you’re right and we spy on them too.”
(Reporting by Katharine Jackson, Susan Heavey and Bo Erickson; Editing by Peter Graff, Mark Porter and Chris Reese)
Comments