Trump says China, Russia are not helping Iran ‘at all’

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has said he does not believe China and Russia are helping Iran in its war with the United States and Israel, arguing that both countries have “too much to lose” by supporting Tehran.

Trump made the remarks late on Monday in a post on Truth Social, responding to comments by critics and opponents who had suggested that Beijing and Moscow were assisting Iran.

“If they are, it’s at a very low level, but I don’t believe they are at all. They have too much to lose, and we would know about it, and know about it very fast,” Trump wrote.

Trump said in July that he trusted China and Russia not to help Iran in the conflict, warning that any involvement would have serious consequences for both countries.

“If they did get involved, it would be very bad for them,” he said at the time.

The United States and Iran have been at war since February 28, when US and Israeli forces launched attacks on Iran. Tehran responded with strikes against Israel and Gulf states hosting US military bases.

US and Israeli strikes on Iran, along with Israeli attacks on Lebanon, have killed thousands of people and displaced millions, according to Reuters.

Trump has previously described Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin as “neutral” in the conflict. Moscow and Beijing maintain close ties with Tehran. Russia has said the Iran war could lead to a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. Beijing has condemned Washington’s attacks on Tehran as a brazen violation of Iran’s sovereignty.

Last month, Trump warned Xi against providing support to Iran when the Chinese leader visited Washington, and received assurances that China would not do so, the US ambassador to China said at the time.

The warning came amid reports that China had supplied Iran with shoulder-fired ​air-defense missile launchers and that Tehran had found ways to evade sanctions on its oil sales with Chinese ​help.

In September, Trump brushed aside a report that Iran acquired satellite images of a base in Jordan from Chinese entities before an attack that killed three US troops there in July.