Xi warns world order is ‘crumbling into disarray’ as US seals Strait

As a tentative two-week ceasefire continues:

• The US says it has stepped up its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and it has ‘completely halted economic trade going into and out of Iran by sea’
• Iran’s military has threatened to block the Red Sea if the US naval blockade continues
• Donald Trump accused China of supplying Iran with weapons – and it emerged Iran used a Chinese spy satellite it secretly bought in 2024 to target US bases in the current war
• Lebanon described preliminary talks with Israel in the US as ‘productive’ while Israel said the talks show the three countries ‘are on the same side of the equation’
• Trump said it was ‘very possible’ the war would be over by the time King Charles visits the US later this month
• He also suggested the special relationship with the UK ‘has been better’ and said ‘I think that I like Starmer’
• Iran has not commented on Trump’s claims, but mediators are said to be close to extending the ceasefire

Chinese President Xi Jinping warned the world order is ‘crumbling into disarray’ as the US steps up its blockade on the Strait of Hormuz.

In remarks during a meeting with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez in Beijing, he said: In ‘today’s world, chaos abounds, and the international order is crumbling’.

The visit by Sanchez comes as many Western governments are seeking to maintain ties with Beijing despite lingering security and trade tension, as discomfort grows over the policies of Trump.

Xi said deeper ties between Spain and China were in both of their interests and and urged stronger communication and trust to ‘uphold the rule of law, jointly defend genuine multilateralism, and safeguard global peace and development’.

Sanchez said international law was repeatedly being undermined, and called for closer ties to promote peace and prosperity.

‘It is more necessary today than ever, and so that together we can establish an even stronger bond between China and the European Union,’ Sanchez said.

The US has claimed Cuba is helping Russia fight Ukraine and has contributed up to 5,000 troops for Vladimir Putin’s bloody campaign.

A US official also said Cuba has provided ‘diplomatic and political support for Moscow’.

According to Axios the State Department says ‘the public record does not prove Havana officially dispatched all Cuban fighters’ but ‘there are significant indicators that the regime knowingly tolerated, enabled, or selectively facilitated the flow’.

‘The Cuban regime undermines American interests all over the world,’ Senator Ted Cruz told the outlet.

Donald Trump has said Xi Jinping will give him ‘a big, fat, hug’ when he permanently opens the Strait of Hormuz.

In a post on Truth Social, he also said China had agreed not to send any weapons to Iran.

Trump claims the US and China are ‘working together smartly’, but ominously warned: ‘REMEMBER, we are very good at fighting, if we have to.’

The US President wrote: ‘China is very happy that I am permanently opening the Strait of Hormuz. I am doing it for them, also – And the World.

‘This situation will never happen again. They have agreed not to send weapons to Iran. President Xi will give me a big, fat, hug when I get there in a few weeks.

‘We are working together smartly, and very well! Doesn’t that beat fighting??? BUT REMEMBER, we are very good at fighting, if we have to – far better than anyone else!!! President DJT.’

Donald Trump has said he is not considering extending the two-week ceasefire as he predicted an ‘amazing two days ahead’.

The US President, who earlier said the war was close to concluding, said an extension would not be necessary.

He told ABC News: ‘I think you’re going to be watching an amazing two days ahead. I really do.

‘It could end either way, but I think a deal is preferable because then they can rebuild.

‘They really do have a different regime now. No matter what, we took out the radicals. They’re gone, no longer with us.’

Donald Trump threatened to punish Keir Starmer by downgrading the UK’s trade deal today – as his finance chief insisted a recession caused by the Iran War will not be as bad as a nuclear strike on London.

The US President vented fury at the PM for refusing to back his military campaignin his latest impromptu interview.

Speaking to Sky News, Mr Trump complained that the UK was ‘not there’ when he asked for help with the strikes on Tehran and helping reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

As well as hinting the trade agreement struck with Sir Keir is up for grabs, he also took aim at Labour’s immigration and Net Zero policies.

Donald Trump has claimed that oil and electricity prices will reduce ‘tremendously’ once the war with Iran is finished.

In an interview with Fox, the US President warned ‘the world will be blown up’ if Iran is allowed to develop a nuclear weapon.

He also said when the war ends gas and electricity prices will decrease massively.

Mediators are close to extending the two-week ceasefire between the US and Iran, officials have told the Associated Press.

Negotiators are reportedly hoping to salvage the fragile truce before it expires next week.

The US blockade on Iranian ports and renewed Iranian threats have imperiled the week-old agreement, but regional officials said on Wednesday they were making progress, stating the US and Iran had given an ‘in principle agreement’ to extend it to allow for more diplomacy.

Before the two-week ceasefire expires on April 22, mediators are pushing for a compromise on three main sticking points that derailed direct talks last weekend – Iran’s nuclear program, the Strait of Hormuz and compensation for wartime damages – according to one of the regional officials who is involved in mediation efforts.

Pope Leo XIV left Algeria on Wednesday and headed to Cameroon for a four-day trip that includes a visit to the epicentre of a nearly decade-long separatist conflict, where he is due to bring a message of peace.

It comes amid a growing row between Donald Trump and the head of the Catholic Church, who has in recent weeks condemned rhetoric coming out of the White House and called for peace in the Middle East.

Trump once again hit out at him on Tuesday night, as he defended taking military action in Iran.

‘Will someone please tell Pope Leo that Iran has killed at least 42,000 innocent, completely unarmed, protesters in the last two months, and that for Iran to have a nuclear bomb is absolutely unacceptable,’ the US President wrote on his Truth Social page.

Trump has been roundly condemned for attacking the Pope and posting an AI generated image of himself of Jesus Christ.

Iran’s military has threatened to block the Red Sea if the US naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz continues.

The US has blockaded ships from passing through the passage since Monday in an attempt to reassert control over the sea in region.

The US said its blockade was ‘fully implemented’ although Iranian state media claimed one of its ships passed through ‘without any concealment’.

Ali Abdollahi, the commander of Iran’s Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters, the regime’s highest operational command co-ordinating the armed forces, said if the blockade continues and creates ‘insecurity for Iran’s commercial vessels and oil tankers’, it will ‘constitute a prelude to a violation of the ceasefire’.

Abollahi warned Iran would not allow ‘any exports or imports to continue in the Persian Gulf, the Sea of Oman, and the Red Sea’.

Stocks rose and crude dropped again Wednesday after Donald Trump said a second round of US-Iran talks could take place ‘over the next two days’, fuelling hopes for a deal that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz and allow crude to flow again.

Traders were also cheered by news that Israel and Lebanon had agreed to launch direct negotiations, fuelling optimism for an end to a conflict that has been a key sticking point in the fragile ceasefire between Washington and Tehran.

Ships are avoiding the Strait of Hormuz as the US ramps up its blockade of the waterway, a live tracking map shows.

A large build up of vessels can be seen in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman after the US said its blockade was ‘fully implemented’.

The US said any ships transporting goods to or from Iranian ports would be blocked and the US-sanctioned tanker Rich Starry made its way back to the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday after exiting the Gulf the day before, shipping data showed,

Another US-sanctioned vessel, the Very Large Crude Carrier Alicia that has a record of carrying Iranian oil since 2023, is scheduled to enter the Gulf via the strait on Wednesday.

The empty tanker, capable of carrying 2 million barrels of oil, is heading to Iraq to load a cargo on Thursday.

Separately, the Malta-flagged VLCC Agios Fanourios I entered the Gulf via the strait on Wednesday in a second attempt to transit.

The tanker was among several vessels that tried to enter the Gulf on Sunday during the US-Iran ceasefire deal.

It is heading to Iraq to load Basra crude for Vietnam’s Nghi Son refinery, according to data and trade sources.