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Trump Says No Need for China’s Help on Iran as Shippers Seek Way Through Hormuz

Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, Musandam, Oman, May 8, 2026. (Reuters)
Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, Musandam, Oman, May 8, 2026. (Reuters)
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Trump Says No Need for China’s Help on Iran as Shippers Seek Way Through Hormuz

Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, Musandam, Oman, May 8, 2026. (Reuters)
Vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, Musandam, Oman, May 8, 2026. (Reuters)

US President Donald Trump has said he does not expect to need China's help to end the war in Iran and ease Tehran's grip on the Strait of Hormuz, in remarks made before he arrived in Beijing on Wednesday for a summit with President Xi Jinping.

The war is expected to feature in talks between Trump and Xi over the next two days, but Trump downplayed Beijing's potential role in ending the conflict, which has choked off traffic through a key waterway that typically carries about one-fifth of the world's oil supply.

"I don't think we need any help with Iran. We'll win it one way or the other, peacefully or otherwise," he told reporters in Washington before departing for China.

Iran has appeared to firm up its control over the Strait of Hormuz in recent days, cutting deals with Iraq and Pakistan to ship oil and liquefied natural gas ‌from the region, ‌according to sources with knowledge of the matter.

Iranian officials have signaled they see that control as ‌a long-term ⁠strategic goal. An ⁠army spokesperson said supervision of the waterway could generate revenue amounting to twice Iran's oil income, while strengthening its foreign policy leverage.

"After this war ends, there will be no place for retreat," the spokesperson said, according to comments carried by ISNA news agency.

More than one month after a tenuous ceasefire took effect, US and Iranian demands to end the war remain far apart. Washington has called for Tehran to scrap its nuclear program and lift its hold on the strait, while Iran has demanded compensation for war damage, an end to the US blockade and a halt to fighting on all fronts, including in Lebanon, where Israel is battling Iran-backed Hezbollah. Trump has dismissed those positions as "garbage."

CHINESE SUPERTANKER CROSSES STRAIT

The Trump administration said on Tuesday that senior US and ⁠Chinese officials had agreed last month that no country should be able to charge tolls on ‌traffic through the region, in an effort to project consensus on the issue ahead of ‌the summit.

China, a major buyer of Iranian oil that maintains close ties with Tehran, did not dispute that account.

On Wednesday, a Chinese supertanker carrying ‌2 million barrels of Iraqi crude sailed through the Strait of Hormuz, ship-tracking data showed, marking the third known passage by a Chinese oil ‌tanker through the channel since the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28.

Other countries are exploring shipping arrangements similar to Tehran's deals with Iraq and Pakistan, sources said, potentially entrenching Tehran's control of the waterway through which fertilizers, petrochemicals and other bulk commodities vital to global supply chains normally flow.

PRICE OF WAR

As the costs of the conflict mount, Trump said Americans' financial struggles were not a factor in his decision-making on the war. Data released on Tuesday showed ‌that US consumer inflation accelerated in April, with the annual rate posting its largest gain in three years as food, rent and airfares rose.

Asked to what extent the economic strain on Americans ⁠was motivating him to strike a ⁠deal, Trump replied: "Not even a little bit."

"I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation ...," Trump said before leaving for China. "I think about one thing: We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon."

The remarks are likely to draw scrutiny as cost-of-living concerns remain a top issue for voters ahead of November's midterm elections.

WAR HITS OIL SUPPLIES

The conflict is weighing heavily on global energy markets. Global oil supply will fall by around 3.9 million barrels per day across 2026 and undershoot demand due to disruptions caused by the Iran war, the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday, with more than 1 billion barrels of Middle East supply already lost.

Brent crude futures were steady at around $108 per barrel, after a three-day rally driven by the Hormuz deadlock.

Surveys show the war is unpopular with US voters less than six months before nationwide elections. Two out of three Americans, including one in three Republicans and almost all Democrats, think Trump has not clearly explained why the country has gone to war, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.

ISRAEL CONTINUES TO STRIKE LEBANON

Iran has demanded security guarantees for Lebanon as part of its proposal to end the wider war, but despite a US-mediated ceasefire announced last month, Israel has continued to strike Hezbollah.

On Wednesday, Israeli airstrikes on cars in Lebanon killed 12 people, including two children, according to Lebanon's health ministry.

Some of the strikes targeted vehicles well beyond the main theater of conflict in the south, on the coastal highway south of Beirut, security sources said.

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World

Russia Says It Caught Ukrainian Agents Preparing Close Range Drone Attack on Moscow’s Air Defenses

A bus rolls along a street in central Moscow on October 19, 2026. (AFP)
A bus rolls along a street in central Moscow on October 19, 2026. (AFP)
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Russia Says It Caught Ukrainian Agents Preparing Close Range Drone Attack on Moscow’s Air Defenses

A bus rolls along a street in central Moscow on October 19, 2026. (AFP)
A bus rolls along a street in central Moscow on October 19, 2026. (AFP)

Russia's ‌FSB security service has thwarted a planned Ukrainian drone attack from inside Russia on a key element of Moscow's air defense system and on an electricity facility, the FSB said on Monday, saying it had arrested two men involved in the plot.

The two men, who the FSB said were from the South Caucasus region and had been ‌acting under ‌instructions from Ukraine's SBU security service, ‌had ⁠retrieved First Person ⁠View drones and explosives from two Russian regions, delivered them to the Moscow region, and configured and activated the drones, the FSB said.

The drones were to be remotely controlled from Ukraine, it said.

"It has been ⁠established that one of the ‌suspects was recruited by ‌an SBU officer and, on that officer’s instructions and ‌in return for a promised monetary ‌reward, travelled to Russia to prepare and carry out a sabotage and terrorist attack. To this end, he enlisted the help of an acquaintance ‌from his close circle," the FSB said.

"The suspects were detained by FSB ⁠officers ⁠while preparing to carry out a terrorist attack on an electricity infrastructure facility and on one of the key components of Moscow's missile defense system," it said.

There was no immediate comment from the SBU or from Ukraine, which has intensified its attempted drone attacks on the Russian capital in recent months, as Russia has stepped up its own attacks on Ukrainian power and other infrastructure targets.

World

China’s Xi Opens Communist Party Plenum, Aims for Firm Governance Measures

A police car is parked at Tiananmen Square during the plenary session of the Communist Party's Central Committee in Beijing on October 26, 2026. (AFP)
A police car is parked at Tiananmen Square during the plenary session of the Communist Party's Central Committee in Beijing on October 26, 2026. (AFP)
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China’s Xi Opens Communist Party Plenum, Aims for Firm Governance Measures

A police car is parked at Tiananmen Square during the plenary session of the Communist Party's Central Committee in Beijing on October 26, 2026. (AFP)
A police car is parked at Tiananmen Square during the plenary session of the Communist Party's Central Committee in Beijing on October 26, 2026. (AFP)

China's Communist Party began a four-day meeting of its highest-ranking members on Monday targeting concrete measures for "full and rigorous party self-governance", as President Xi Jinping seeks to reinforce his authority and enforce ideological uniformity.

Xi briefed the party's Central Committee on a draft document that state news agency Xinhua said addressed the challenges the party faced, including growing its governing capacity, as well as guarding against complacency and combating corruption, the president's signature campaign.

The ‌implementation of major ‌decisions and plans of the Central Committee, the largest ‌of ⁠its top decision-making bodies, ⁠must not be empty rhetoric, the commentary wrote.

"It is essential to both refine institutional rules and regulations to close loopholes and strengthen safeguards, and ensure their effective implementation," it said.

The Central Committee will convene in the closed-door meeting from Monday to Thursday - the fifth since the current cohort was formed in 2022 and therefore known as the fifth plenum.

Analysts say this could be the last major party ⁠gathering before its 2027 leadership reshuffle, when Xi is expected ‌to hold on to the top job ‌for a fourth term.

"The plenum will present Xi as in control, and able to continue ‌his command," said Kerry Brown, director of King's College London's Lau China ‌Institute. "It is likely everything will be centered on him, to dispel any rumors or doubts about his physical fitness and ability to continue in his role."

With substantive policy issues already largely set in previous gatherings, "this will be a plenum where appearances will matter as ‌much, if not more, than substance," Brown added.

ROOTING OUT CORRUPTION FOR MARKET PREDICTABILITY

Xi has overseen a vast ⁠anti-corruption campaign in ⁠recent years which has led to the purge of hundreds of senior officials and top generals, even the president's one-time allies.

While critics argue the purges - particularly those targeting the highest ranks of the armed forces - are destabilizing and undermine combat readiness, the party has portrayed the campaign as both necessary and regenerative, saying the military must undergo a phoenix-like rebirth and "bathe in flames and be forged anew."

The Xinhua commentary propped up the anti-corruption drive as a demonstration of "sustained and systemic" self-governance to "ensure officials dare not, cannot and do not want to commit corruption".

"For global investors and policymakers, this signals greater predictability," it said, arguing that China was also creating a more transparent environment for international cooperation as merit and the rule of law prevail over connections and bribery.

World

Israel Defense Minister Denies Report of PM-Army Rift on Eve of Election

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz attend a graduation ceremony of new Israeli army officers at a base near Mitzpe Ramon, Israel, October 21, 2026. (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz attend a graduation ceremony of new Israeli army officers at a base near Mitzpe Ramon, Israel, October 21, 2026. (Reuters)
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Israel Defense Minister Denies Report of PM-Army Rift on Eve of Election

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz attend a graduation ceremony of new Israeli army officers at a base near Mitzpe Ramon, Israel, October 21, 2026. (Reuters)
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Israel Katz attend a graduation ceremony of new Israeli army officers at a base near Mitzpe Ramon, Israel, October 21, 2026. (Reuters)

Israel's defense minister denied on Monday reports of a rift between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the army over Iran, as the premier's rivals seized on the story as a line of attack a day before close elections.

Over the course of a neck-and-neck race, Netanyahu has campaigned heavily on his security credentials, insisting only he can "finish the job" in the US-Israeli war on Iran.

But his main rival, ex-army chief Gadi Eisenkot, has accused him of playing up the Iran threat when it suits him politically, and of failing to accomplish his war goals.

Israel's Channel 12 reported on Sunday, citing unnamed sources, that there had been a confrontation between Netanyahu and army chief Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir over an unspecified new directive on Iran.

The premier dismissed the report as "rubbish" during a TV appearance, and Katz characterized it as an effort to cast doubt on the Netanyahu bloc's judgement on the eve of the polls.

"The reports about gaps between the political echelon and the army on the Iran issue are entirely baseless and false," Katz said on X, insisting there was "complete" coordination between the two.

In its report, Channel 12 said Zamir had demanded a detailed discussion, as well as legal guarantees and the signatures of the political leadership before carrying out the directive he had received.

The outlet did not offer details of the directive, but cited sources saying there were concerns within the army that the war might be exploited for political gain.

Katz in his statement Monday said "unequivocally that there was no intention on Israel's part to initiate an attack on Iran before the elections".

- 'Restore responsibility' -

Opposition leader Yair Lapid referenced the report in a post on X, accusing Netanyahu of seeking to put off the vote.

"Tonight it was published that he wants to set off an escalation and a confrontation with Iran, just to postpone the elections," he said.

"This man has lost his grip. We absolutely must send him home."

Eisenkot, meanwhile, said Zamir had his complete trust, adding he would not stand for the military being "turned into a tool in Netanyahu's survival campaign".

"I warn Netanyahu: Do not dare place your political interests above the state's security," Eisenkot wrote on X Sunday night.

"In two days, the citizens of Israel will put an end to this reckless government and restore responsibility, decency and Israel's security."

On the campaign trail, Netanyahu has sought to portray Eisenkot as soft on Iran and beholden to Palestinian interests, playing to voters' opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state.

Netanyahu had warned on Sunday "that our enemies, Iran and its proxies, could challenge us with attacks in order to disrupt the elections", adding: "Don't test us."

But Iran's foreign ministry said it did not matter who prevailed in the vote.

"It makes no difference to us who, in these elections, takes the helm of a regime that has brought nothing but violence and massacres to our region," said ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei.