Trump Says Reports of Long Gas Lines in China Since Iran War Are Correct

Chinese refineries are the primary buyers of Iranian crude oil.

President Donald Trump on March 13 confirmed reports of gas shortages in China as the war in Iran drives international concern over the energy market.

“The reports are correct about the long [gas] lines,” Trump said on the Brian Kilmeade radio show.

Chinese refineries are the primary buyers of Iranian crude oil, which is sanctioned due to the regime’s funding of terrorism.

The U.S. president touched on his upcoming trip to China and described the bilateral relationship as a “highly competitive” one.

“We’re doing well economically with China; they want to do business with us,” he said.

Just south of Iran lies the Strait of Hormuz, where one-fifth of the world’s energy supply transits. Iran has retaliated by striking targets in the region, and three commercial vessels around the strait were recently confirmed to have been hit by projectiles.

The Iranian envoy to the United Nations has said Iran has no plans to close the strait, and the United States has made assurances that it will ensure the passage remains open as well.

On CNBC, U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said on March 13 that the United States is monitoring whether energy market disruptions to China will affect its ability to manufacture, but that he believes disruptions will be short-lived due to Trump’s statements that the war is expected to last four to five weeks and is ahead of schedule.

In the radio interview, Trump added that Iran’s military ability to close the strait, and therefore further disrupt trade, has disappeared.

“Their navy’s gone. Their air force is gone. Their leadership is gone. Second leadership is gone, now their third leadership is in trouble,” he said.

The Iranian regime appointed Mojtaba Khamenei as its new supreme leader on March 8, and he made his first public statement on March 12, but has not appeared in public. An Israeli security official told Epoch Magazine on March 11 that Israel believes he may have suffered an injury during earlier strikes.

Trump said on the radio show that he believed similarly.

“I think he is damaged, but I think he’s probably alive in some form,” the president said.

Trump administration officials have raised the possibility of U.S. naval escorts of commercial vessels multiple times since the start of the war.

On March 12, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the escort operations may be a joint effort conducted by an international coalition and would happen “as soon as it is militarily possible.”

“There are, in fact, tankers coming through now. Iranian tankers. I believe some Chinese-flagged tankers have come through. So we know that they have not mined the straits,” he said.

Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth also said on March 13 that there has been no evidence of Iran laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz.

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