Trump: I don't think China and Russia are helping Tehran

Listen to the article. The audio text is automated, generated by an automated system

US President Donald Trump expressed his belief that China and Russia are not helping Iran "at all," adding that Moscow and Beijing have "a lot to lose" if they provide support to Tehran.

Trump also said in a post on the Truth Social platform at dawn on Tuesday that he had seen comments from his critics and opponents stating that China and Russia were providing assistance to Iran. "If they are doing it, it is on a very limited level, but I don't think they are doing it at all," he wrote. "They have a lot to lose, and we will find out, and we will find out very quickly."

The US President said last July that he was confident that China and Russia would not help Tehran in the war. But he warned that if they intervened in the conflict, it would be "very bad for them."

Trump also previously described Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin as "neutral" in the Iran war.

Moscow and Beijing have close relations with Tehran. Russia has repeatedly warned that a war with Iran might lead to a nuclear arms race in the Middle East, while Beijing denounced Washington's attacks on Tehran and described them as a blatant violation of Iranian sovereignty.

Last month, Trump warned Xi against providing support to Iran during the Chinese President's visit to Washington, and the US ambassador in Beijing at the time said that Trump had received assurances that China would not do so, according to what Reuters reported.

The warning came at the time amid reports that China had provided Iran with shoulder-fired air defense missile launchers, and that Tehran had found ways to circumvent sanctions imposed on its oil sales with Chinese assistance.

Meanwhile, last September, Trump downplayed a report stating that Iran had obtained satellite images of a base in Jordan from Chinese authorities before an attack that occurred in July, which resulted in the killing of three American soldiers.