‘We don’t need any help with Iran,’ says President Trump as he departs for China

President Donald Trump departed Washington on Tuesday afternoon for Beijing and his high-stakes summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Trump took off from Joint Base Andrews on Air Force One en route to China.

As he left the White House, Trump downplayed differences with Xi over the US conflict in Iran and predicted that “good things are going to happen” during the visit.

Asked if Xi needs to intervene in Iran, Trump said, “I don’t think we need any help with Iran. We’ll win it one way or the other. We’ll win it peacefully or otherwise. Their Navy is gone. Their Air Force is gone. Every single element of their war machine is gone.”

‘We have Iran very much under control’

“We have Iran very much under control. We’re either going to make a deal or they’re going to be decimated — so one way or the other, we win,” President Trump added.

“It’s very simple: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon... We don’t play games. They’re not going to have a nuclear weapon.”

Trump and Xi Jinping are expected to discuss trade issues, the Iran war, and the self-ruled island of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory.

Speaking to reporters as he left the White House for his trip to China, Trump laid out his plan to discuss the Iran war with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“We’re going to have a long talk about it. I think he’s been relatively good, to be honest with you. You look at the blockade, no problem. They get a lot of their oil from that area. We’ve had no problem,” Trump said.

The trip is Trump’s first to Beijing since he travelled there as president in 2017.

‘Not even a little bit motivated to end Iran war because of financial issues’

Trump told reporters that the financial situation of Americans is not influencing him to reach an agreement with Iran.

“Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters when I’m talking about Iran—they can’t have a nuclear weapon. I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation. I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing—we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon,” Trump told the press.

The war in Iran has led to higher prices for Americans, and data released on Tuesday morning says that inflation rose to 3.8% last month.

Trump has been unsuccessfully pressing Xi to use China’s leverage to make Iran agree to US terms and end the war or reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

“We’re going to have a long talk about it. I think he’s been relatively good, to be honest with you,” Trump said of his plans to discuss the conflict with Xi. Minutes later, he added, “We have a lot of things to discuss. I wouldn’t say Iran is one of them, to be honest with you, because we have Iran very much under control.”

Melania Trump not going on China trip

First lady Melania Trump will not be accompanying the president on his trip to China, her office said just ahead of the trip.

“The First Lady is not traveling to China for this visit,” her communications director Nick Clemens said in a brief statement.