Chinese President Xi Jinping told Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday that normal passage through the Strait of Hormuz should be maintained, the first time the Chinese leader has publicly weighed in on the waterway's closure, which has roiled global energy markets for a month and sent oil prices sharply higher.
Xi made the remarks during a phone call with the Saudi crown prince, as The Hill reported. China's state-run Xinhua news agency carried the comments, quoting Xi as saying that keeping the strait open "serves the common interest of regional countries and the international community."
The statement marks a notable shift. Beijing has spent weeks balancing its ties with Gulf states that have come under pressure from Tehran against its own relationship with Iran. Until Monday, Xi had avoided directly addressing the strait's closure, even as the blockage upended global commerce, choked off energy and food supplies, and forced Washington to escalate its own naval posture in the region.
Iran effectively shut down the Strait of Hormuz roughly a month ago, following U.S.-Israeli strikes on Tehran. Since then, Iranian forces have exercised tight control over which ships pass through and have reportedly charged tolls for safe passage. The closure has hammered the world economy, driving oil prices higher and disrupting supply chains that depend on the narrow waterway.
The United States responded by imposing a naval blockade on Iranian commercial and oil ships in the strait. U.S. forces have turned back 27 vessels, boarded one commercial ship, and on Tuesday seized a sanctioned oil tanker.
A temporary ceasefire in the broader Middle East conflict is expected to expire on April 22. Whether it will be renewed, or whether the situation deteriorates further, remains an open question.
President Trump is sending a delegation to a possible second round of talks between U.S. and Iranian officials, which could take place Wednesday in Islamabad. Iran, however, has yet to formally commit to participating. That uncertainty hangs over every diplomatic gesture, including Xi's.
Xi's phone call with Mohammed bin Salman was not his only recent outreach to the Gulf. Last week, the Chinese leader met with Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of the United Arab Emirates. Both conversations suggest Beijing is working to position itself as a stabilizing force, or at least as a voice for open shipping lanes, while the region teeters.
During Monday's call, Xi called for an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire and cessation of hostilities across the Middle East and Gulf region. He stressed the importance of improving ties with Gulf states, building what he described as a "sustainable security architecture," and upholding "international rule of law." He warned against the world "returning to the law of the jungle."
The rhetoric is grand. But the practical question is whether Beijing has any leverage over Tehran, or any willingness to use it. Iran's closure of the strait was a direct response to military strikes, and reopening it would require either a negotiated settlement or a change in the military facts on the ground. Xi's words, however welcome in principle, do not by themselves move either dial.
What they do signal is that even China, Iran's most important economic partner, now recognizes the closure cannot hold. When your strongest ally publicly calls for the waterway to reopen, the diplomatic ground under your feet is shifting. Whether Tehran reads it that way is another matter.
The Trump administration has not been idle. The naval blockade, the seizure of an oil tanker, and the dispatch of a delegation to possible talks in Islamabad all point to a strategy that combines military pressure with diplomatic openings. That approach has drawn support from Republican leaders who have rallied behind the president's willingness to act decisively even when the diplomatic path is uncertain.
The 27 vessels turned back and the boarded commercial ship represent a tangible show of force. But the strait remains effectively closed to normal traffic, and the economic damage compounds daily. Every week the waterway stays shut, consumers and businesses worldwide pay higher prices for energy and basic goods.
Meanwhile, Democrats in Washington have struggled to present a unified alternative. Some have broken with their own leadership over the administration's military posture in the Gulf, reflecting broader divisions within the party over how to respond to the crisis.
Those fractures are not confined to foreign policy. Prominent Democrats have openly acknowledged their party's difficulties in meeting the moment, with figures like Senator Cory Booker admitting the party "failed this moment" and calling for new leadership. The Gulf crisis has only sharpened the contrast between an administration willing to project strength and a party consumed by internal debate.
The expiration of the temporary ceasefire on April 22 creates an immediate pressure point. If it lapses without renewal, the risk of further escalation, and further economic fallout, rises sharply. The possible Wednesday talks in Islamabad could offer a path forward, but Iran's refusal so far to formally commit casts doubt on their prospects.
Xi's public call for reopening the strait adds a new variable. It gives Washington a rhetorical ally, however imperfect, in pressing Tehran to stand down. It also gives Gulf states like Saudi Arabia and the UAE reason to believe that even China's patience with Iran's brinkmanship has limits.
But rhetoric from Beijing has a long track record of outrunning action. Xi can call for open shipping lanes and "sustainable security architecture" all he likes. The question is whether he will do anything concrete, reduce purchases of Iranian oil, apply diplomatic pressure behind closed doors, or condition future cooperation on Iran's behavior, to back up his words.
For American consumers and businesses, the stakes are not abstract. The strait's closure has sent energy costs higher and disrupted supply chains at a moment when the economy can least afford it. The same political disarray among Senate Democrats that has hampered domestic legislation also makes a coherent congressional response to the Gulf crisis harder to assemble.
The people who pay for this standoff are not in Beijing, Tehran, or the halls of Congress. They are at the gas pump, in the grocery aisle, and on the factory floor.
When even Xi Jinping says the strait needs to reopen, the world has run out of excuses for keeping it closed.
