Trump: Xi Jinping offers to end war with Iran

[0:00] left yesterday. He is now back in Washington, D.C. According to President Trump, Chinese [0:05] President Xi Jinping has said he will not provide military equipment to Iran, which has been a [0:10] central focus of these high-stakes meetings, marking this possible win for the Trump [0:15] administration. Now, President Trump said he and President Xi largely agreed Iran must not have a [0:21] nuclear weapon and that the Strait of Hormuz should be reopened, while adding that the U.S. [0:26] does not need any favors. Now, U.S. officials have increasingly accused China of helping prop up [0:31] Iran's military and economic strength through oil purchases, dual-use exports, and intermediary [0:37] networks. President Trump added that Xi also offered to help end this conflict. Here's a [0:42] brief soundbite from a conversation the president had with Sean Hannity on this topic earlier this [0:47] week. Take a listen. The issue, and you've been asked about it, and you've spoken about it, and that [0:54] is China's support of Iran. How big a discussion was that today? We discussed it. I mean, when you [1:03] say support, they're not fighting a war with us or anything. No. He said he's not going to give [1:09] military equipment. That's a big statement. He said that today. That's a big statement. He said that [1:14] strongly. But at the same time, he said, you know, they buy a lot of their oil there, and they'd like to [1:18] keep doing that. He'd like to see Hormuz's Strait opened. I said, well, we didn't stop it. They did it, [1:24] then we stopped them. You know, sort of interesting. He joked. He said, you know, [1:28] sort of if they stopped it, then you stopped them. But they'd like to see it opened. But they [1:34] actually closed it. He didn't like the fact that they're charging tolls. I don't know if they are [1:39] or not. I don't know who would pay them. I mean, where do they put the money? The country's [1:43] decimated. You know, they're charging tolls. Where's the money going? President Xi would like to. [1:50] All right. And joining us now is Rick De La Torre. He is a friend of the show, [1:56] a familiar face and a former CIA officer. Thank you so much for joining us this morning. We [2:00] appreciate it. Thanks for having me. I want to start with that soundbite from President Trump [2:05] and also what I shared before I brought you in here. Trump saying Xi told him China will not [2:09] provide military equipment to Iran. How much of a win is this for the United States? What is the [2:14] significance? Well, it's exactly what Trump loves to do. You know, Trump is trying to force China [2:21] to make a choice it would rather avoid. And China has real leverage over Iran. They buy Iranian oil. [2:29] They provide diplomatic cover. They give Tehran that economic oxygen when sanctions really start [2:35] to bite. So when President Trump sits down with Xi and puts Iran, the Strait of Hormuz and the [2:41] nuclear issue on the table, he's speaking to one of the few leaders who can actually make [2:45] Tehran listen. And that does not mean Xi suddenly becomes our partner. China will act in China's [2:52] interest. But right now, China's interest is not a prolonged war, not an energy shock, and certainly [2:58] not a closed Strait of Hormuz. Beijing needs that waterway open. It needs oil moving. It needs markets [3:06] calm. That gives President Trump real leverage. And the Iranian regime has always counted on [3:12] international division. They pressure the West. They threaten shipping. They raise the oil prices [3:18] and then wait for everyone else to panic. The administration is trying to flip that pressure [3:23] back onto Tehran by making clear that Iran's behavior is no longer just a U.S. problem. It is now [3:29] a Chinese problem, an energy problem, a shipping problem, and a global commerce problem. If China [3:35] wants stability, it cannot keep giving Iran room to destabilize the region. [3:39] This post here from Fox News sharing that President Trump now back in the United States [3:45] going on at the end there to say Trump has said that he and Chinese President Xi Jinping [3:48] largely agreed Iran must not have a nuclear weapon, that the Strait of Hormuz should be reopened, [3:54] as you just spoke to Rick. But of note here, the Trump administration has described China as the [3:59] key enabler of Iran. Can you break that down for us? What has the Trump administration said, [4:04] and why have they said it? Well, I mean, they are an enabler of Iran because of just the ties that [4:12] they have. And from the Chinese perspective, China would love nothing more than to the United States [4:17] to be bogged down in Middle East conflicts for the rest of our lives because it takes up our resources, [4:24] it takes up our time, it refocuses us in a region of the world that allows then China to continue to [4:34] grow in Southeast Asia and up until recently very much in our own hemisphere here in Latin America. [4:40] So from their perspective, you know, the Chinese would love nothing more than for us to just be [4:47] always in conflict with the regional powers within the Middle East because that allows them [4:54] the opportunity to grow and to spread. And how much pressure has the Trump administration been [5:00] putting on China over its relationship with Iran? Obviously, Iran was one of those key talking [5:05] points during this trip to China with President Xi. But if we go back even before this trip, [5:11] how much pressure really had President Trump been putting on China over this topic? [5:16] Yeah, look, no one should confuse Chinese self-interest with friendship, right? Xi is not [5:21] doing favors for the United States. He's very calculating. And, you know, that's tension that [5:30] is where, you know, that's the kind of tension that Trump can certainly expand on and grow on. [5:40] The administration's message, that pressure, seems to be if you want to be treated like a [5:46] responsible global power, right, then stop acting like Iran's, you know, silent banker and diplomatic [5:53] bodyguard, right? And that's the kind of right pressure point. If China wants to, you know, [6:00] claim to be, you know, this superpower that can match the United States, that, you know, that could [6:09] be, that could lead responsibly, then it's got to really make a choice and turn its back on, you know, [6:15] the world's largest supplier of terrorism around the world. [6:21] And, Rick, we also heard from President Trump on Air Force One just yesterday. Here's some video [6:26] of that. He was speaking to reporters heading back from this trip. He called this a possible win for [6:32] his administration. President Xi also saying this was a very productive trip. What would the [6:37] administration really need to see next, though, to consider this truly a breakthrough? [6:42] Well, we need to see China actually put into actions what its words are. And not only that, [6:50] but also make sure that those actions remain in place. I think this will go down as a historic, [6:57] you know, summit between two world leaders. And, you know, what's interesting is President Trump, [7:05] I think, has had the most amount of meetings of any Western leader with President Xi. So that gives him [7:11] some significant insight that, you know, they know each other, that they're not starting from zero. [7:16] But that also means that President Xi recognizes that there's something that he has to give [7:24] back to the United States if he wants this relationship to continue to grow. So we should [7:30] see some concessions coming out of China. We should see the Chinese market open up a little bit more [7:35] more to American goods and services. And we should see China hopefully becoming a little bit more [7:41] responsible on the global theater. The good news is, right, we've got a second summit now set up for [7:47] September 24th here in Washington. So, you know, that means that the conversation continues. [7:55] And hopefully we'll see some tensions start to dissolve between the United States and China. [8:01] But ultimately, China is always going to work in what's best in China's self-interest. [8:07] What we need to do is make sure that we ally with China on those things that we can rely on and that [8:12] we can work together on and build from there. And since you mentioned that summit, Rick, I did want [8:19] to ask you, you know, do we know what is going to be discussed there? What can we realistically expect [8:23] that is still several months away? Oh, you know, every few months with in this administration, [8:30] there's always something new. So who knows what it could be. But the groundwork is there, right, [8:36] working together. You know, the last three or four months, who would have believed that we'd be [8:41] talking about, you know, no more dictatorship in Venezuela, narcos from Mexico, no longer with us. [8:49] You know, in Iran, the entire leadership of Iranian dictators and imans is just completely gone. [8:59] So who knows what's going to happen between now and September. [9:04] Now, I also wanted to touch on this. This banner at the bottom of our screen says, [9:07] President Trump says President Xi offered to help end the Iran conflict. What role could China [9:12] realistically play in that? Yeah, you know, that's that is exactly the point that we were trying to [9:24] discuss earlier, right? The question that you had asked me. It's great to say that, you know, [9:28] we want to help end the war in Iran. Well, OK, what does that mean? You know, and that's where [9:34] you really have to put actions to words. What that would mean is they need to basically tell Iran [9:40] to to stand down. If not, you know, all those Chinese purchases of Iranian oil are going to go [9:46] elsewhere. And they need to make sure to tell Iran to open up the Strait of Hormuz. Iran will listen [9:52] to China because, you know, so much of their economy depends on Chinese buyers. So if China allies [10:01] itself with the United States on this and drops its policy of encouraging and wanting the United States [10:09] to be bogged down in Middle Eastern conflict, that's a huge win. That's a big reset button in [10:15] the region. Now, going off of that, you know, China's role, what they would play in all of this [10:20] at times like this, how closely do intelligence officials watch these relationships like the one [10:27] between China and Iran during times of conflict like what we're seeing there right now? [10:31] We watch this stuff like a hawk. And we want to make sure that we understand exactly what's going [10:39] on and, you know, see if there's any difference between what China or Iran says and what they [10:49] actually do. If we continue to seek cooperation between China and Iran, where it's been noted that [10:56] they provide the Iranian regime with satellite imagery, with communication support. If we start [11:04] to see those things shift, right, that gets turned off. That's a great signal. And then openly, [11:11] if we start to see the Chinese ministries start to criticize or start to encourage the Iranian regime [11:19] to, you know, to come to the table, to give up its nuclear weapons, to open up the straight [11:26] other moves and to fall in line with other, you know, with other countries, then again, that's a huge [11:32] win for us in the West. So let's see. Let's see if China will do it. I suspect it, I suspect it will in [11:39] some way, you know, may not be a home run, but they'll certainly move closer to the West because they [11:44] recognize that that really Tehran's days are very, very limited, that they're not adding any [11:49] value to anything. They don't, um, they're, they're not a reliable long-term partner. Keep in mind [11:55] when, when, uh, what's great about the timing of the summit, and that's why I said so many things [12:00] happen in, uh, in, in just such a short period of time with this administration. Uh, on January 3rd, [12:04] when we removed Maduro overnight, the United States became the world's largest supplier of oil [12:09] that shifts the global discussions, right? That means that any discussions we have with [12:14] Chairman Xi or with, uh, Vladimir Putin, um, that's a very different thing when we control [12:19] the levers of oil and we can lower the price of oil down to 20 bar, uh, $20 a barrel if we had to. [12:24] On top of that, then, uh, you know, uh, the, the conflict in, in Tehran, uh, took out another [12:30] 10% of, of, of, of the oil supply that, that, that, uh, China relies on for its economy. So, [12:36] all, you know, when all said and done, the United States in just a few months has removed 20% [12:41] of all the oil that China needs to keep its economy going. That's, you know, that, that's [12:47] serious. That, that's the difference between, uh, China expanding and growing or China, uh, you know, [12:53] getting smaller and shrinking as a world power. And they recognize that, uh, the economy is a mess [12:58] over there. Uh, their economy, uh, is contracting. Um, they, they, they don't have the, the, the, [13:05] you know, even their own birth rates aren't catching, uh, aren't, aren't keeping up, uh, [13:10] with the population of Beijing. So you're looking at real, uh, hard problems that are now embedded [13:17] in China. And if they don't have the fuel that they need to grow their economy, that's just going [13:22] to exacerbate the problem. So that's the kind of leverage that the administration brings to the [13:26] table. And he's, and Trump is quiet about it, right? You know, I know a lot of reporters tried to [13:30] get them to criticize Chi, uh, to, you know, one word, is Chi a dictator? And they wanted Trump to [13:35] answer those kinds of questions. He doesn't do that. If you, if you pay attention, right? You [13:39] know, he treats them for what it is. Uh, he's very pragmatic about it. He's very respectful, [13:44] you know, uh, speak softly when, when it comes in conversations with them, at least, at least [13:49] publicly, right? Uh, to allow the Chinese leadership to save face, but they know exactly what the realities [13:55] are. And they're going to have to make that choice if they're going to deal with Iran or if they're [13:58] going to deal with the United States in the future. And I'm pretty confident they're [14:01] going to, they're going to make the right choice. All right. As you said, a lot to watch here. [14:05] Rick De La Torre, former CIA operations officer. Appreciate you as always for coming on live [14:09] now. Thanks for having me.