President Donald Trump told Paris-based AFP news Tuesday that China was involved in Iran’s decision to talk and come to a two-week cease-fire.

“I hear yes. Yes they were,” he said in a call with the international outlet.

U.S. officials have said that China has an interest in a free and open Strait of Hormuz, as a net importer of energy. The strait south of Iran sees a fifth of the world’s energy supply pass through it, as well as other materials such as chemicals and fertilizers. Its closure has sparked price increases and worries of food shortages in some countries.

While Beijing has said it favors a cease-fire, it had shown no interest in joining operations to keep the strait open.

Chinese officials have been in contact with more than two dozen countries in the Middle East since the start of war in Iran, a Chinese spokesperson said at a press briefing Wednesday, without addressing whether Beijing helped convince Tehran to agree to a cease-fire.

Trump told AFP that with the cease-fire, the United States was effectively claiming a victory.

“Total and complete victory, 100 percent. No question about it. No question about it,” he said.

“Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan, and wherein they requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran, and subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks,” the president said on Truth Social.

Trump said all military objectives had been achieved and the two weeks would be used to create a lasting peace deal.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said at an April 8 news conference that denuclearizing Iran was always “non-negotiable.”

“What the new Iranian regime knows is they’ll never have a nuclear weapon or the capability to get a path to one,” he said.

He and other military officials have also said the United States is ready to resume operations if Iran violates the cease-fire.