Trump says China's Xi Jinping offered to help end Iran conflict

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he and President Donald Trump agree that Iran “must come to the negotiating table now” to bring an end to the conflict in the Middle East. 

“I had a good phone call with Donald Trump on his way back from China. We agree: Iran must come to the negotiating table now. It must open the Strait of Hormuz. Tehran must not be allowed to have nuclear weapons,” Merz wrote in a post on X. 

“We also discussed a peaceful solution for Ukraine and coordinated our positions ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara,” he added. “The U.S. and Germany are strong partners in a strong NATO.” 

Earlier this month, approximately 5,000 U.S. troops were ordered to withdraw from Germany.  

"The Secretary of War has ordered the withdrawal of approximately 5,000 troops from Germany," chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told Fox News Digital at the time. 

The order came after Merz criticized the U.S. approach to Iran, saying Washington was being "humiliated by the Iranian leadership" and expressing hope the conflict would end "as quickly as possible." 

Trump previously has criticized Merz as well, saying he "doesn’t know what he’s talking about" regarding Iran’s nuclear ambitions. 

Fox News Digital’s Brittany Miller contributed to this post.

U.S. Central Command said Friday that 75 commercial ships have been redirected as part of the military’s ongoing blockade of Iranian ports. 

CENTCOM revealed the statistic alongside an image of a MH-60R Sea Hawk helicopter taking off from the flight deck of the USS Rafael Peralta, operating in support of the blockade. 

The U.S. military blockade was launched on April 13. 

U.S. Central Command commander Adm. Brad Cooper said this week that Operation Epic Fury has enhanced U.S. military partnerships across the Middle East. 

"In terms of our partners, I think a key feature is we have enhanced [military] relationships across the board in the Middle East," Cooper said Thursday during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing. "As we sit here right now, we have five specific partner nations who are not just conceptually side by side, but literally side by side with the United States in defense." 

Cooper named the partners as the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. 

"Over the course of Epic Fury, they've defended themselves, and they defended Americans,"he added. "In addition to those key allies, everything that we've accomplished would have been impossible without the Kingdom of Jordan, and clearly, we were operating very closely with the state of Israel." 

Cooper also said, “in less than 40 days, CENTCOM forces achieved our military objectives.” 

“Most notably, we degraded Iran's ability to project power outside its borders and threaten the region and threaten our interests,” Cooper added. 

China’s foreign ministry released a statement Friday saying there is “no point” in continuing the war with Iran. 

“China’s position on the Iran situation is very clear. The conflict has inflicted severe losses on the people in Iran and other regional countries,” a foreign ministry spokesperson said before President Donald Trump’s departure from Beijing, where he had been meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. 

“With the spillover still expanding, the conflict has put a heavy strain on global economic growth, supply chains, international trade order and the stability of global energy supply, which hurts the common interests of the international community," the statement continued. “There is no point in continuing this conflict which should not have happened in the first place.” 

“To find an early way to resolve the situation is in the interest of not only the U.S. and Iran, but also regional countries and the rest of the world,” it added.  

The U.S. is trying to choke off Iran’s economy at sea, but a growing China-linked rail corridor is giving Tehran a workaround that Washington cannot easily shut down without risking a wider conflict.

As freight traffic between China and Iran increases along an overland route beyond the reach of American warships, the dynamic is exposing a core limitation in the U.S. strategy: maritime pressure is powerful, but it doesn’t fully extend across Eurasia.

According to Bloomberg, cargo trains running from central China to Iran have jumped from roughly one per week before the blockade to one every three or four days, highlighting a growing alternative channel as Tehran looks to blunt maritime pressure.

The corridor runs through multiple sovereign countries, including Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan, making it far more complex to disrupt than shipping lanes in the Persian Gulf.

Directly targeting that overland network would risk widening the conflict and escalating tensions with Beijing, which has spent years investing in trade routes designed to bypass maritime choke points dominated by the U.S. Navy.

That combination of geography, diplomacy and escalation risk helps explain why Washington has focused overwhelmingly on maritime interdiction rather than attempting to shut down overland trade routes.

Experts say the rail corridor remains limited in its ability to offset Iran’s main oil exports.

President Donald Trump accused a New York Times reporter on Friday of writing “treasonous” coverage about the war against Iran. 

Trump made the remark onboard Air Force One after the reporter asked him what the U.S. would gain if it resumed bombing Iran following the ongoing ceasefire. 

“You did it for 38 days and you did not get the political changes in Iran,” the reporter was telling Trump before the president interrupted and said, "I had a total military victory, but the fake news, guys like you, write incorrectly.” 

"You're a fake guy and guys like you write about it incorrectly. We had a total military victory. We knocked out their entire Navy. We knocked out their entire Air Force. We knocked out, all of their antiaircraft weaponry. We knocked out all of their radar,” Trump continued.  

“We knocked out all of their leaders, number one. And then we knocked out all of their leaders in the second division, and we knocked out numerous of their leaders in the third division. And they're very confused. We've had a total victory, except like people like you that don't write the truth,” Trump added. “I actually think it's sort of treasonous what you write. But you and the New York Times, and CNN I would say, are the worst.” 

“Your editors tell you what to write and you write it, and you should be ashamed of yourself,” Trump also said. “I actually think it's treason when you write like, they're doing well militarily and they have no Navy, no Air Force, no anti anything?” 

President Donald Trump suggested Friday that the U.S. could enter Iran at some point to remove "nuclear dust” following the June 2025 U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

"At the right time, we'll either go in or we'll get it. I think we'll probably get it, but if we don't get it, we'll go in,” Trump told reporters onboard Air Force One.

“I think they'll be totally defeated,” Trump said about Iran. “And we won't have any risk. We have the equipment to take it out, nobody else does, China might have the equipment.”

Trump issued a similar warning at the White House in March regarding Iran's enriched uranium stockpiles, saying at the time, "Either we'll get it back from them or we'll take it."

Fox News Digital's Morgan Phillips contributed to this report.

President Donald Trump said Friday that he is not asking for any favors from Chinese President Xi Jinping when it comes to reopening the Strait of Hormuz. 

Trump made the remark to reporters while traveling on Air Force One following his departure from Beijing, China, where he had been meeting with Xi.

When asked if Xi made any firm commitments to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Trump said, “I'm not asking for any favors, because when you ask for favors, you have to do favors in return.” 

“We don't need favors. We've wiped out their armed forces essentially,” the president said about Iran. 

"We may have to do a little cleanup work because we had a little monthlong, ceasefire, I guess you'd call it. But we have a blockade that's so effective. That's why we did the ceasefire," Trump said, referencing the U.S. military blockade against Iranian ports.

Asked if he thinks China will put pressure on Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Trump reiterated, "I don't need favors."

"I think he will. I think automatically, he'd like to see it opened up," Trump said of Xi. "He gets about 40% of his energy or his oil from that. You know, from the strait. We get none.... We don't need it."

President Donald Trump said Friday that Iran’s latest peace offer didn’t have strong enough guarantees when it came to their nuclear program. 

“I looked at it, and if I don't like the first sentence, I just throw it away,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One while traveling home from China. 

“What was the first sentence?” Trump was asked. 

“An unacceptable sentence because they have fully agreed, no nuclear. And if they have any nuclear of any form, I don't read the rest of it,” Trump said. 

The reporter responded, “So 20 years is not enough for you, it’s got to be a permanent...”

“No, 20 years is enough," Trump interjected. "But the level of guarantee from them is not enough. In other words, it's got to be a real 20 years.”

Trump referenced "nuclear dust," a phrase he coined for Iran's stockpile of enriched uranium buried beneath bombed nuclear sites after U.S. strikes. The U.S. wants the material removed or confiscated, but Trump told reporters the Iranians have not yet agreed.

"They said that they can't remove it because they don't have the technology to remove it. They don't have the type of tractors," Trump said on Air Force Once. "They say the only one, they told me directly, they said the only one that can remove it is China or the US. We're the only ones with the equipment."

"They said you were right. It is a complete obliteration," he added. "With that being said, I want to get it. and they agreed to it, but then they took it back. But they'll agree to it eventually."

President Donald Trump told reporters Friday that he personally wasn’t in favor of a U.S.-Iran ceasefire, but implemented one at the request of other nations.  

“We really did the ceasefire at the request of other nations. I wouldn't have really been in favor of it, but we did it as a favor to Pakistan,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One while heading back to the U.S. from China. 

Pakistan has served as a key mediator in negotiations between the U.S. and Pakistan. 

Trump left Beijing on Friday following meetings with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

The Israel Defense Forces said Friday it has started “to attack infrastructure of the terrorist organization Hezbollah in the Tyre area in southern Lebanon” after rockets were launched toward Israeli territory. 

“Overnight, the IDF attacked and destroyed the launcher from which the terrorist organization Hezbollah fired several rockets toward the Kiryat Shmona area last night,” the IDF said earlier. 

“The launcher was attacked in the Zibdin area in southern Lebanon,” it added. “Alongside the launcher, several structures used by the terrorist organization for military purposes and for launching terror attacks against IDF forces and the citizens of the State of Israel were also attacked.” 

The escalation comes as representatives from Israel and Lebanon are meeting again in Washington on Friday for talks aimed at resolving their conflict. Hezbollah, a terrorist organization, is backed by Iran.

President Donald Trump said Thursday that Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged not to provide military equipment to Iran and offered to help end the conflict during their meeting in Beijing.

During an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity following the summit, Trump said China’s relationship with Iran was discussed extensively as tensions continue across the Middle East.

“He said he's not going to give military equipment. That's a big statement,” Trump said. “He said that today. That's a big statement. Said that strongly.”

Trump also said Xi wants the Strait of Hormuz reopened as China continues relying heavily on oil shipments moving through the region.

“He'd like to see Hormuz Strait opened,” Trump said. “I said, well, we didn't stop it. They did it. And then we stopped them.”

Trump said Xi additionally offered to help broker a resolution to the conflict.

“He said, if I can be of any help at all, I would like to be of help,” Trump said.

The president also renewed pressure on Tehran to reach an agreement before the conflict escalates further.

“They should make a deal,” Trump added. “Any sane person would make a deal, but they might be crazy.”

Yesterday's Fox News Digital liveblog has additional coverage of the Iran conflict.