U.S. president Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping discussed the Iran -war in Beijing on Thursday. Meanwhile, new attacks on vessels close to the Strait of Hormuz reminded us of the cost of a prolonged stalemate with peace negotiations stalled.

A White House official stated that after Trump and Xi'met', the leaders agreed that the strait'should be open, and that Iran shouldn’t ever acquire nuclear weapons. China is Iran's main oil buyer and close to the country.

Scott Bessent, U.S. Treasury secretary, said in an interview in Beijing with CNBC that he believes China will "do everything they can" to open the strait. He said it was "very in their interest".

The diplomatic efforts to end the conflict have been put on hold after last week, when Iran and the United States both rejected each other's most recent proposals. They each remained firm in their initial demands which they each consider to be "redlines".

Since the United States launched its bombing campaign against Iran two and a half months ago, Iran has closed the Strait of Hormuz largely to all ships except for its own. This has caused the largest ever disruption in global energy supply. The U.S. stopped bombing Iran last month, but added a port blockade.

An Indian cargo ship carrying livestock from?Africa into the United Arab Emirates sank on Thursday off the coast Oman.

India condemned the attack, and stated that all 14 crew had been saved by the Omani Coastguard. Vanguard, an advisory firm for maritime security in the UK, stated that?the vessel was hit by a drone or missile which caused an explosive explosion.

Separately the British maritime security agency UKMTO announced on Thursday that unauthorised personnel had boarded and were steering a ship off the coast United Arab Emirates Port of Fujairah towards Iran.

Fujairah, the UAE's only oil port, is located on the other side of the Strait. This allows some exports to bypass the area. Iran included this?part of coast in an expanded map of waters that it released last week.

Iran is still making deals with other countries for some ships to be allowed to pass through the Strait of Hormuz - as long as they agree to Tehran's conditions.

On Wednesday, a Japanese tanker crossed after the Japanese prime minister announced she had asked for help from Iran's president. On Wednesday, a huge Chinese tanker crossed the border. Iran's Fars News Agency reported that an agreement was reached on Thursday to allow some Chinese ships through.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards reported 30 vessels have crossed the strait from Wednesday evening. This is still far below the 140 vessels that crossed the strait daily in the days before the war. However, if confirmed, this would be a significant increase.

Asghar Jahangir, Iran's Spokesperson for the Judiciary, said that on Thursday the seizure and destruction of "U.S. Tankers" in violation of Iranian regulations is being carried out according to domestic law as well as international law.

Talks are not progressing much

The United States and Israel, after intensively bombing Iran over six weeks, paused the campaign more than one month ago in order to facilitate what Trump called promising peace talks. After a single round in Pakistan, last month there was little progress.

Trump said that his goals in starting the war was to destroy Iran's nuke programme, to end its ability to attack its neighbors and to make it easier for Iranians to overthrow government.

Iran is still in possession more than 400kg (900lbs) of highly enriched uranium near weapons grade, as well as missiles and drones that can be used to strike neighbours.

Since the start of the war, Iran's rulers have not faced any organised opposition. Their newfound ability to shut off the strait gives them more leverage in negotiations.

Washington wants Tehran to stop enriching uranium. Iran wants the lifting of sanctions and reparations for damage caused by war, as well as recognition of its control of the Strait. Trump's China trip, originally scheduled for March 31, was delayed because of the "war" at a time that Trump predicted a rapid end to the conflict. He travelled to China with the standoff unresolved. It hung over the first U.S. presidential visit in almost a decade.

In an interview with Fox News on Air Force One, Marco Rubio, U.S. Secretary for State Marco Rubio said that the United States hopes China will "play a more proactive role" in convincing Iran to stop what it is doing and attempting to do in the Persian Gulf.

We've told them that supporting Iran is clearly detrimental to our relationship.

(source: Reuters)