China Presses Iran and US to Reopen Strait of Hormuz Ahead of Xi-Trump Summit

Since Israel and the U.S. launched strikes on Iran on February 28, China has held its second in-person Beijing meeting with Iran's foreign minister on the war, and this one carries more weight than the first.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi in Beijing on Wednesday, September 16, and told him bluntly to get the Strait of Hormuz open. "We urge all parties to take effective measures to reopen the Strait of Hormuz at an early date," Wang said, according to China's Foreign Ministry. He also pushed Iran and the U.S. to "engage in substantive consultations" and return to what China calls the Islamabad memorandum of understanding, the June framework both countries reportedly agreed to before fighting resumed.

The meeting came a week after Wang and Araghchi sat down on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in New Delhi, and a week before Chinese President Xi Jinping is scheduled to meet President Trump in Washington, according to Al Jazeera and the Times of India. Iran's financial relationship with China is expected to be on that agenda, according to The Media Line.

Araghchi, for his part, insisted Tehran isn't looking to keep fighting. "We are not interested in continuing the conflict and look forward to returning to a diplomatic solution," he said, according to thisisbeirut.com.lb. He maintained Iran still considers the June memorandum of understanding valid, even as it continues launching attacks in the strait.

The Numbers Don't Match

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC this week that the Strait of Hormuz is effectively reopened under American protection, with oil flows hitting 18 million barrels a day and returning to "basically pre-conflict levels," according to Breitbart.

But shipping data cited by The National News and The Media Line tells a very different story. Before the war started February 28, roughly 125 large commercial vessels transited Hormuz daily, carrying about a fifth of the world's crude oil and LNG supply. On Tuesday, only four vessels made the crossing — down from seven the day before, and well below the 10-day average of 18 vessels. Two entered the strait, two exited.

Those are two different measurements: barrels of oil versus number of vessels. They aren't a direct contradiction, but they paint opposite pictures of how normal things actually are. Wright's framing suggests the crisis is basically over. The vessel-count data suggests traffic is still a fraction of what it was before the war, even if fewer, larger tankers are managing to move more oil per trip through Omani coastal waters. Neither claim has been independently reconciled in the reporting, and both figures come from different sources measuring different things.

Yemen Is the New Worry

Wang also flagged a second front: Yemen and the Red Sea. "We do not wish to see regional tensions spilling over into Yemen and the Red Sea," he said, according to thisisbeirut.com.lb. The Houthis, Iran's proxy force in Yemen, struck Saudi Arabia's East-West Pipeline this week, an attack Wright called a "brief and temporary interruption" that will be "measured in days." Saudi Arabia hasn't released an official repair timeline, and Breitbart notes some independent analysts think it could take up to six weeks. In the meantime, Riyadh is routing more supertankers through Hormuz along the Omani coast, according to CNBC's reporting cited by Breitbart.

The Media Line adds that the UN says the renewed Yemen fighting has displaced more than 100,000 people, with thousands more fleeing the country entirely.

China's Angle

China isn't a neutral bystander here. It's Iran's largest oil customer and a major economic partner, a fact every source in this story flags. Beijing's interest in reopening Hormuz is straightforwardly commercial: it needs the oil moving. Wang told Araghchi that China is "willing to strengthen dialogue and cooperation with Iran, and safeguard Iran's legitimate rights and interests," according to Al Jazeera, while simultaneously pressing Tehran to make the concession — reopening the strait — that would benefit everyone, including Beijing.

Breitbart's framing casts Iran as "running out of cards," pointing to the fact that Araghchi didn't get a new deal at the BRICS summit and that BRICS members' joint statement skipped a denunciation of U.S. and Israeli strikes. Araghchi's own public position hasn't shifted: he says Iran still considers the June memorandum binding and wants a negotiated exit, not a surrender.

None of the sources report any breakthrough from Wednesday's meeting. No ceasefire, no reopening announcement, no new agreement. What's confirmed is a scheduled Trump-Xi meeting next week in Washington, where Iran and the strait are expected to come up. Whether Beijing's pressure moves Tehran before then, or whether Wright's optimistic barrel counts hold up against the vessel-traffic data, remains unresolved.