President Trump made an interesting and somewhat cryptic China reference in a series of Tuesday morning Iran-related statements, given to CNBC.
He stated that US forces recently intercepted a vessel carrying what he described asa "gift" from China to Iran as Tehran seeks to rebuild its military during a ceasefire.
The ship had "a gift from China" which "wasn’t very nice," Trump told CNBC. "I was a little surprised," he said, adding that he believed he had an "understanding" with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
He had asserted:"We caught a ship yesterday that had some things on it, which wasn’t very nice, a gift from China."
However, he didn't specify further what the precise nature of the intercepted shipment was, and provided no other details, leaving the public merely guessing and speculating.
It was only a week ago that Trump said Xi hadassured him there would be no Chinese weapons shipments to Iran, which is a longstanding partner of Beijing. Trump and Xi are set to hold a historic meeting May 14-15.
But a further clue is Trump's contextual explanation wherein he said Iran had"probably done a little bit of restocking"while implying that Beijing had been helping its efforts. AsSouth China Morning Postfurtherreviews:
The claim was first made by former US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, and Trump then injected a note of doubt, saying: "Perhaps, I don’t know, but I was a little surprised … but Ithought I had an understanding with President Xi [Jinping], but that’s all right. That’s the way war goes."
China's foreign ministry was quick to reject and deny the allegation, with spokesman Guo Jiakun saying, "To my knowledge, this is a foreign-flagged container ship.China opposes any malicious links and hype."
Amb. Haley made the allegation about the ship which was seized by the US Navy on Sunday in a social media post, saying it had "refused repeated orders to stop" and was"linked to chemical shipments for missiles"...
Source: ZeroHedge News
