Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday, the State Department and the Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed, to discuss the ongoing war in the Middle East and prepare for upcoming high-level talks in Washington.
Mr. Yi told Mr. Rubio that head-of-state diplomacy is the “star of China-U.S. relations,” adding that the two ministers should prepare for the next stage of high-level talks “in the spirit of equality, respect and reciprocity,” according to a readout from the Chinese Foreign Ministry.
President Trump is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Washington next week, though neither side has released details or an agenda. Mr. Yi did not explicitly mention the meeting in his call with Mr. Rubio, according to the readout.
Thursday’s exchange comes a day after Mr. Yi met with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, during which the diplomat urged both the U.S. and Iran to return to a ceasefire and resume extensive peace negotiations.
China has been a substantial, while somewhat private, mediator in the U.S.-Iran war, declining to weigh in on daily events while maintaining nearly consistent contact with Iranian officials such as Mr. Araghchi.
China has also maintained a critical posture toward the U.S. and Israel’s war effort in the Middle East. On Thursday, Russia and China rejected a U.S. drafted resolution at the United Nations Security Council that sought to extend the mandate of the Panel of Experts probing Iran’s potential sanctions violations.
Despite China’s calls for peace, negotiations to end the Iran war have stalled in recent weeks as Tehran maintains a defiant posture, the Strait of Hormuz remains closed and fighting in Yemen accelerates.
Senior political adviser to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, Mohammad-Bagher Zolghadr, said on Thursday that the strait will remain closed until Mr. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have been removed from office.
“Our fighters will not open the Strait of Hormuz until the criminal Trump and bloodthirsty Netanyahu are brought down from power,” said Mr. Zolghadr in comments carried by state-affiliated media.
Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz in March in retaliation for U.S. and Israeli attacks on infrastructure, military assets and political leaders across the country. At least one-fifth of the world’s supply of oil and natural gas pass through the waterway each year, and its closure has rocked international energy markets.
Brent crude, the international benchmark for crude oil, was standing at approximately $105 a barrel on Thursday afternoon.
Adding to woes of international energy markets is the ongoing crisis near the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a narrow waterway off Yemen’s western coast that has been used increasingly by Saudi Arabia to export oil after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran-backed Houthi rebels last week consolidated control of Yemen’s western territories, including several islands in the strait, that are likely to assist the fighters in interdicting commercial vessels tied to Saudi Arabia. The Houthis announced a blockade against Saudi-linked ships in July.
UKMTO reported that an unidentified skiff chased off a tanker vessel as it moved closer to the Bab al-Mandab Strait on Thursday.
UKMTO’s notice says that it received a report of an incident where a skiff “pursued and attempted to intercept” a vessel located east of Aden, Yemen, which sits on the country’s southwestern coast.
Authorities are reportedly investigating, but UKMTO was unable to identify where the skiff originated from and did not confirm if the tanker suffered any damage.
The report also did not identify the tanker’s name, origin, flag, or cargo. The Washington Times has reached out for further information.
While the incident and those like it have not been properly attributed to Houthi rebels in Yemen, the Iran-backed militia has a consistent history of approaching and “shadowing” tanker vessels in the Bab al-Mandab Strait and in the Gulf of Aden.
Back in May, UKMTO logged multiple reports of vessels approached by skiffs or small boats in the Gulf of Aden. Somali coast pirates have also been known to intercept vessels near the strait using similar tactics.
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