US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday pressed China to ramp up diplomatic pressure on Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping, adding that the subject will be discussed when President Donald Trump meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week.
“China, let's see them step up with some diplomacy and get the Iranians to open the strait,” Bessent said on Monday during a live Fox News interview.
He said China was buying 90% of Iran's energy and accused Beijing of “funding the largest state sponsor of terrorism.”
The US official said that he was urging China to "join us in this international operation" to open the strait, but he did not specify what action Beijing should take.
He added that China and Russia should stop blocking initiatives moving through the United Nations, such as a resolution encouraging steps to protect commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Bessent said Trump and Xi have been discussing the Iran situation and will exchange views on this in person during their May 14-15 summit in Beijing.
But he emphasized that the two will strive to maintain stability in the US-China relationship that was established with their trade truce reached last October in Busan, South Korea.
“We've had great stability in the relationship, and again, that comes from the two leaders having great respect for each other,” he said.
Bessent also insisted that Washington is fully in control of the Strait of Hormuz through its blockade of Iranian shipping and that the new US Navy operation to guide shipping through the strategic waterway will bring oil prices down.
The market, because of the war around the strait, is in deficit of between eight and 10 million barrels of oil a day right now, Bessent added.
“Every crude carrier that goes through has about two million barrels,” he said.
He expects there are “more than 150, 200 crude carriers that can come out,” and that the “market is going to be very well supplied.”
Bessent called high fuel prices a “temporary aberration” that will end in a matter of weeks or months.
“Again, we are cognizant that this short-term blip up in prices is affecting the American people, but I am also confident on the other side of this, prices are going to come down very quickly,” he said, adding that the oil market will be well-supplied.
