New York [US], September 26: US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping turned to the Middle East war at their summit on Friday, as Iran pressed Washington to accept a seven-day plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and halt regional fighting.
China is highly on the flow of Middle Eastern oil, which has been disrupted by Iranian threats on tankers leaving the Strait of Hormuz and the advance of Iranian-allied Houthis along chokepoints in the Red Sea.
Xi urged the United States and Iran to return to the June framework agreement that led to a short-lived ceasefire and continue negotiations toward a broader settlement, according to China's state news agency Xinhua.
Trump, meanwhile, warned Xi against providing support to Iran and received assurances that China would not do so, the US ambassador to China said on Friday, the final day of Xi's three-day state visit.
The flurry of diplomacy underscored the global stakes of the seven-month-old conflict, which has disrupted oil flows through one of the world's most critical shipping lanes and drawn in regional and world powers.
Xi's visit coincided with the United Nations General Assembly, where Iran and the US engaged in diplomacy through Qatari mediators.
Iran welcomed Xi's push for a return to the June framework, but also placed renewed emphasis on its peace proposal, formally unveiled on Thursday.
"Iran has conveyed to the United States through Qatar a concrete seven-day plan. If the necessary conditions are met, the strait can be reopened, a normal maritime passage restored within seven days. The choice now rests with the United States," Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi told reporters at the United Nations on Friday.
"The seven-day timeline will start as soon as the United States accepts this plan," he said.
Washington has yet to publicly respond to the Iranian offer, but a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, "We are having positive and constructive discussions through the mediators, and we continue to discuss the nuclear issues."
If the US agrees, the warring parties could start wider talks "on mutually agreed subjects," Araqchi said. Tehran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and hostilities would end on all fronts, including Lebanon.
The plan in turn requires the United States to lift its blockade on Iranian ports, release Iran's frozen funds, and waive its oil sanctions.
But separately, a senior Iranian official told Reuters that Iran will show no flexibility over its nuclear program even if the United States accepts its peace deal.
Iran would grant no concessions over its rights, including enriching uranium or shipping its highly enriched uranium out of country, the official said.
Trump has vowed Iran will never develop nuclear weapons.
Source: Fijian Broadcasting Corporation
