From the Liveblog of
Thursday, May 14, 2026
Rubio: China has ‘interest to resolve’ Gulf turmoil, needs to do more to change Iran’s behavior
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleThe United States hopes to convince China to play a more active role in trying to persuade Iran to walk away from what it is doing in the Gulf, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio says in an interview aired on Fox News.
Rubio makes the comments in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, noting that China has ships in the Gulf, one of which was struck by Iran over the weekend.
“I’m sure Iran didn’t do it deliberately but they did it, it happened,” Rubio says. “And so that’s why these Chinese ships are stuck in there.”
He adds that Iran’s behavior is “a huge source of instability. It threatens to destabilize Asia more than any other part of the world because it’s heavily reliant on the straits for energy.”
Rubio also argues that China has an economic interest in getting shipping to flow through the Strait of Hormuz again, as if other countries are struggling, “they are going to be buying less Chinese product and the Chinese exports are going to drop precipitously.”
“So it’s in their interest to resolve this.”
EXCLUSIVE: Secretary of State Marco Rubio outlines the high-stakes push for China to confront Iran over its actions in the Persian Gulf in an exclusive sit-down with @seanhannity aboard Air Force One:
“The Chinese have ships stuck in the Persian Gulf… A Chinese cargo got hit… pic.twitter.com/9gtJqdfvxN
— Fox News (@FoxNews) May 13, 2026
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