Trump says Moscow and Beijing pledged not to arm Iran, seized funds to pay Hormuz damages

Where things stand

The topic now centres on two claims made by US President Donald Trump on what The National described as day 147 of the Iran war. Trump said China and Russia had pledged not to supply weapons to Tehran, a commitment reported by The National and not independently confirmed in the material at hand; neither Beijing nor Moscow is recorded here as having publicly stated the same. Separately, according to The American Conservative, Trump said funds seized from Iran would be used to pay for damage caused in the Strait of Hormuz, without any figure or mechanism attached to that statement in the reporting. Taken together, the two remarks sketch a US position that leans on outside restraint from Iran's principal partners while treating confiscated Iranian assets as a source of compensation for disruption at the strait. Both rest for now on Trump's own account rather than on confirmation from the other parties involved. The immediate context is diplomatic: The American Conservative noted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is due at the White House on Tuesday, a meeting that follows closely on these statements and is likely to shape how far they are tested.

The topic tracks statements by US President Donald Trump about the war involving Iran, which reporting by The National placed at day 147. Two threads run through it: whether Iran's major partners, China and Russia, will supply it with weapons, and how damage in the Strait of Hormuz, a shipping route affected by the conflict, is to be paid for. Trump has linked the second question to Iranian funds that have been seized, according to The American Conservative. The claims come from Trump's own remarks rather than from confirmation by Beijing, Moscow or Tehran. The diplomatic track around the war includes a scheduled White House visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.