China’s Defense Minister Warns Trump Not to ‘Interfere With Our Affairs’: Strait of Hormuz ‘Is Open For Us’

Inzamam Rashid, an international journalist and MS NOW contributor, reported to anchor Katy Tur on Monday on the latest updates regarding the Strait of Hormuz, which included a direct threat from China to President Donald Trump.

“The blockade itself? How is it working so far, Inzimam?” asked Tur.

“Well, it seems that there are a number of US Navy vessels around the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz. But the big question is: how does this actually work militarily? And that’s the big question. I don’t think many people truly understand what President Trump’s plan is here. Can they actually seize vessels? Do they just kind of go up towards some of the ports on the coastline of Iran and sit there and threaten any ships from leaving or coming in?” Rashid replied, adding:

There are big question marks about the actual logistical military operation, and hopefully some of your guests can clear a bit of that up. But right now we are currently in a state of, as you put it, Katie, who blinks first. It’s essentially a standoff, and yes, we already had an Iranian blockade on the overall Strait of Hormuz — a selective one, where they were allowing only selective vessels to pass through. Then now we’ve got this US blockade on ports on the coastline of Iran. And then also tonight, Iran has responded, saying that they will implement their own blockade on ports right across the Gulf states, just like this one behind me.

This is Jebel Ali port, one of the largest ports in the Middle East — a huge logistical hub, incredibly important for the UAE in particular. And so if Iran goes through with their retaliation of essentially blocking off ports around the Gulf, well, of course, that’s just going to have even further impact on the global economy.

But we are now in this situation where, essentially, if President Trump’s Navy vessels go towards the Iranian coastline, this could get very, very messy because, Katie, we could essentially see combat on that very narrow stretch of water where usually 20 percent of the world’s oil passes through. But for the past six weeks, that’s been pretty redundant. In fact, it’s only really been Iranian oil that’s been going out of Iran, and they’ve doubled their export numbers, mainly going to the likes of China.

As Rashid continued his report, he noted there have been some strong words from China, “And China is, of course, another important point. Tonight, they’ve actually come out and specifically said to the US President that our ships are moving in and out of the Strait of Hormuz. ‘We have trade and energy agreements with Iran. We will respect and honor those agreements, and expect others not to interfere with our affairs. Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz, and it is open for us.’ That’s directly from the Chinese Minister of Defense.” He concluded:

Iran, in retaliation, called the specific measures that President Trump introduced today, a few hours ago, ridiculous and laughable, and said that Iran very much still controls the Strait of Hormuz.

I think the big question is this: if we do get into some specific fighting as a result — if there will be attacks from Iran towards US Navy vessels and then retaliation from the US on the ports of Iran, and also some of their Navy assets there — then the ceasefire that we’re in, this fragile ceasefire, which is still going on for another nine days or so, will effectively break down. And there’s no doubt that fighting will resume.

All the while, we still see huge major impacts on the global economy. And now, with this move from both the US and potentially Iran tonight as well, there are just no real signs of it letting up.

Watch the clip above via MS NOW.

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