Trump says Xi offered to help open Strait of Hormuz
Editor's note: This page summarizes news of the Iran conflict for Thursday, May 14. For the latest on the Iran war, visit USA TODAY's coverage for Friday, May 15.
President Donald Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping offered assistance to ensure navigation through the Strait of Hormuz as the two leaders discussed the U.S. war in Iran during a high-stakes meeting in Beijing.
"He would like to see a deal made," Trump said in an interview with Fox News commentator Sean Hannity, portions of which were released ahead of the full interview airing Thursday night. "He said, 'If I can be of any help at all, I would like to be of help.'"
The Strait of Hormuz, which has faced competing blockades by the U.S. and Iran, is a critical Middle East corridor for shipping, particularly oil. China relies on Iran for about 12% of the country's oil imports.
"Look, anybody that buys that much oil has obviously got some kind of relationship with them, but he said 'I would love to be of help, if I can be of any help whatsoever.' He'd like to see the Hormuz Strait open," Trump said in the Fox News interview.
It's unclear what China's assistance to reopen the strait would look like. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in an interview with NBC News, said Trump did not ask Xi for China's help in the war in Iran ‒ nor does the U.S. need China's help, the secretary added.
Still, Rubio also said Xi made clear to Trump that China ‒ like the U.S. ‒ opposes militarizing the Strait of Hormuz and levying a toll on the critical waterway amid the U.S. war in Iran.
"The Chinese side said they are not in favor of militarizing the Strait of Hormuz and they're not in favor of a tolling system, and that's our position," Rubio said in an interview with NBC News. "It's good we have alliance, or at least agreement, on that point."
Israel announces dozens of strikes on Lebanon
Michael Loria
Israeli Air Force officials announced Thursday that they struck over 65 targets in southern Lebanon linked to Hezbollah "over the past day."
Among targets Israeli military officials said they hit were "weapons storage facilities," "observation posts" and "command centers."
The air force’s announcement comes as top Israeli and Lebanese officials meet for peace talks mediated by U.S. State Department officials. The two sides are expected to meet again on Friday in Washington, D.C.
Israel’s announcement also comes on the heels of Lebanon’s Health Ministry reporting Wednesday that around a dozen people were killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon. Among the dead was at least one child and two paramedics, the health ministry said.
Most Americans think Pentagon's $1.5 trillion budget request too high, poll finds
Cybele Mayes-Osterman
Nearly 6 in 10 Americans think the Pentagon's record-breaking budget proposal is too costly, according to a poll conducted earlier this month, as other polls show a majority of Americans disapprove of the Iran war.
The poll, conducted by ReThink Media and the Costs of War Project at Brown University, a nonpartisan research group, found that 40% of Americans think the new budget is "much too high," and another 19% see it as "somewhat too high."
Another 25% of Americans think it is "about right," and 3% think it is "somewhat too low." Less than 1% of people polled said the new budget is "much too low."
Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth and other officials have said the Pentagon will request extra funding to cover the cost of the Iran war, which they told lawmakers has cost at least $29 billion thus far, not including the damage to U.S. military bases from Iran's attacks.
China's Xi offered to help open Strait of Hormuz, Trump says
Joey Garrison
President Donald Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping "would like to see a deal made" that ends the U.S. war in Iran and offered assistance to ensure navigation through the Strait of Hormuz.
"He said, 'If I can be of any help at all, I would like to be of help,'" Trump said in an interview with Fox News commentator Sean Hannity, portions of which were released ahead of the full interview airing Thursday night.
The Hormuz Strait, which has faced competing blockades from the U.S. and Iran, is a critical route for shipping in the Middle East. Oil from Iran makes up about 12% of China's oil imports.
"Look, anybody that buys that much oil has obviously got some kind of relationship with them, but he said 'I would love to be of help, if I can be of any help whatsoever.' He'd like to see the Hormuz Strait open," Trump told Fox News.
Xi said China won't provide Iran with military equipment, Trump says
Joey Garrison
President Donald Trump said Chinese President Xi Jinping told him during their meeting in Beijing that China will not provide military equipment to Iran yet wants to continue purchasing Iranian oil.
"He said he's not going to give them military equipment," Trump said in a interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity. "That's a big statement. He said that today. That's a big statement He said that strongly. But at the same time, he said they buy a lot of their oil there, and they'd like to keep doing that."
Nearly 90% of Iran's oil exports go to China. Iranian oil makes up about 12% of the country's crude oil imports.
Fox News released snippets of Hannity's interview before the full interview from Beijing airs on Thursday evening.
Iran's military still has 'minimal capability' to attack neighbors, Cooper says
Cybele Mayes-Osterman
Iran's military has been "significantly degraded" but still has "some minimal capability," Adm. Brad Cooper, the commander of U.S. Central Command, told lawmakers when pressed at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on May 14.
Iran is a "significantly degraded threat, and they no longer threaten regional partners, or the United States in ways that they were able to do before," Cooper said when asked by Sen. Jack Reed, the committee's top Democrat, if Iran is still a threat.
"But they can still threaten their partners," Reed said.
Cooper responded, "It's a very large country. They retain some minimal capability."
News outlets have reported in recent days on U.S. intelligence assessments that Iran still has significant military capabilities. Intelligence officials found that Iran has regained access to most of its missile launching sites, the New York Times reported. The CIA found that Iran can survive the U.S. Navy blockade of its ports for multiple months, according to a Washington Post report.
Cooper said later in the hearing that he couldn't discuss specific intelligence assessments outside of a classified hearing, but that "the numbers that I've seen in open source are not accurate."
China doesn't support militarizing, tolling Strait of Hormuz, Rubio says
Joey Garrison
Chinese President Xi Jinping told President Donald Trump that China is “not in favor of militarizing” the Strait of Hormuz or implementing a tolling system along the critical waterway, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.
“It’s good we have alliance, or at least agreement, on that point,”Rubio said in an interview with NBC News from Beijing.
Rubio said Trump did not ask for China’s help in the United States’ war in Iran but “raised the issue to make clear what our position is.”
Rubio said Trump and Xi also discussed Taiwan, which China has claimed to be part of its territory.
“From our perspective, any forced change in the status quo and the situation there now would be bad for both countries,” Rubio said.
Trump and Xi discussed Strait of Hormuz, White House says
Francesca Chambers
In their closed-door meeting, Presidents Trump and Xi discussed the Strait of Hormuz, the White House said in statement that said the Chinese leader was opposed to a toll being levied on commercial shippers that use the waterway.
"The two sides agreed that the Strait of Hormuz must remain open to support the free flow of energy. President Xi also made clear China’s opposition to the militarization of the Strait and any effort to charge a toll for its use, and he expressed interest in purchasing more American oil to reduce China’s dependence on the Strait in the future. Both countries agreed that Iran can never have a nuclear weapon," the White House said in its readout
Rubio says US hopes to convince China to 'play a more active role' with Iran
Michael Loria
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the Trump administration hopes to convince China "to play a more active role in getting Iran to walk away from what they’re doing now."
"It’s in their interest to resolve this," Rubio said of the Chinese in a Fox News interview shared Wednesday. "We hope to convince them to play a more active role in getting Iran to walk away from what they're doing now and trying to do now in the Persian Gulf."
Rubio’s comments came as the secretary, President Trump and other top administration officials are in China to meet with the country’s President Xi Jinping.
China is a major importer of Iranian oil and a number of vessels connected to the country have become stranded in the Middle East as a result of the Iran war and its impact on global shipping.
The country played a key role in brokering the initial peace talks between Iran and the United States. In recent weeks, Chinese officials have called for a restoration of shipping through the critical channel off the Iranian coast.
Israeli strikes kill over a dozen in Lebanon, health ministry reports
Michael Loria
A string of Israeli attacks on Lebanon killed around a dozen people, Lebanon’s Health Ministry and state media reported Wednesday.
Five were killed in the city of Nabatieh, including two paramedics, health ministry officials said. The United Nations has called Israel’s attacks killing Lebanese health workers "deeply alarming." Over 100 have been killed since the start of the Iran war.
Israeli strikes on the village of Kfar Dounine killed four people, including a woman and child, the health ministry said.
Lebanon’s National News Agency reported additional civilian deaths in connection with Israeli strikes in other towns in the southern part of the country.
The latest spree of attacks comes as peace talks between Lebanese and Israeli officials are expected to take place Thursday.