Trump rejects claims Russia, China helping Iran — SkimNews
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- Trump dismissed claims that Russia and China are helping Iran, posting on Truth Social that the assertions come from "Radical Left Morons and Lunatics" and that he does not believe the two countries are assisting Tehran.
- Trump said any assistance would be at "a very low level," asserting that Moscow and Beijing "have too much to lose" and that the U.S. "would know about it, and know about it very fast."
- Trump and Putin held a 1.5-hour phone call described by Russian Presidential Aide Yuri Ushakov as "very substantive," after which Trump announced Russia would immediately supply over 300,000 tonnes of diesel fuel, with additional shipments potentially topping 3 million tonnes.
- Trump linked the Russian diesel deal to falling U.S. energy prices, citing "total control of the Strait of Hormuz" alongside the Russian supplies as drivers of lower diesel costs for Americans.
- Trump and Xi met during Xi's three-day Washington visit in September 2026 — their second meeting in under six months — agreeing on favorable tariff treatment for $30 billion of non-sensitive goods in each direction and launching a new dialogue on emerging technologies.
- China agreed to import at least 10 million metric tonnes of U.S. coal in 2027 and 2028, and the two countries operationalized the U.S.-China Board of Trade and Board of Investment established at the May 2026 Beijing summit.
Why it matters: Trump's argument that Russia and China 'have too much to lose' by helping Iran sits in visible tension with the deals he announced with both: a 3+ million-tonne Russian diesel supply and a $30 billion US-China tariff arrangement. His own framing implies economic entanglement is what keeps Moscow and Beijing sidelined on Tehran — making the scale of new trade detailed here the immediate test of that deterrent thesis.
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