{"id":204441,"date":"2026-03-17T17:26:58","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T17:26:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-seeks-to-delay-china-summit-as-vance-denies-wedge-over-iran-war-the-guardian\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T17:26:58","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T17:26:58","slug":"trump-seeks-to-delay-china-summit-as-vance-denies-wedge-over-iran-war-the-guardian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/trump-seeks-to-delay-china-summit-as-vance-denies-wedge-over-iran-war-the-guardian\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump seeks to delay China summit as Vance denies \u2018wedge\u2019 over Iran war – The Guardian"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pair attempt to strike united front amid reports vice-president skeptical over US-Israeli attack on Iran
Donald Trump revealed that he had asked China to delay his forthcoming visit to Beijing while the war with Iran was continuing, as he attempted to strike a united front on Monday with his vice-president, JD Vance, who is believed to have been skeptical over attacking Tehran\u2019s regime.
Appearing together with Vance for the first time in two weeks, Trump said he did not think the conflict \u2013 which started on 28 February after the US and Israel opened hostilities \u2013 would be over this week but predicted victory would be achieved soon.
However, that confident forecast was dampened somewhat when Trump was asked whether he still planned to visit Beijing on 31 March for a summit meeting with the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping<\/a>.
\u201cWe\u2019re speaking to China<\/a>. I\u2019d love to [go], but because of the war, I want to be here,\u201d Trump said at an Oval Office signing ceremony.
\u201cI have to be here, I feel and so we\u2019ve requested that we delay it a month or so. I\u2019m looking forward to being with them. We have a very good relationship. But \u2026 we got a war going on.\u201d
Trump has claimed several times that the war against the theocratic regime \u2013 which he has termed an \u201cexcursion\u201d \u2013 is all but won, trumpeting the devastation the US military has wreaked on Iranian military capacity, the regime\u2019s political leadership and its infrastructure.
But amid criticism that the US and Israel underestimated the vigor of Iran\u2019s response, Trump has called on western allies and China to help reopen the strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint through which 20% of the world\u2019s oil exports flow and which Tehran is now effectively blocking \u2013 causing oil prices to soar.
Trump renewed his previous criticisms of countries who have voiced reluctance to send ships into the zone \u2013 singling out Britain, which he called \u201cthe Rolls-Royce of allies\u201d, and Keir Starmer, the prime minister.
\u201cI say it would be really helpful if you\u2019d send over a couple of ships, and if you have some minesweepers, which they do, it would be very helpful,\u201d Trump said.
\u201cAnd the prime minister is a nice man. I think he\u2019s a very nice guy. He says, well, I\u2019d like to ask my team. I said, you\u2019re the prime minister, you can make a decision. So it\u2019s very disappointing.\u201d
In addition to closing off and mining the strait \u2013 a measure Iran has repeatedly threatened over many years in the event it came under attack \u2013 the Iranian military response has included missile attacks on Arab Gulf states, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain, all of which host US military bases.
Trump hedged when asked if he was surprised that no one had briefed him that these countries might be targeted in the event of a military onslaught against Iran.
\u201cNo. Nobody thought they were going to hit,\u201d he said, referring to some of the countries as \u201cIran\u2019s bankers\u201d.
\u201cThey were \u2026 I wouldn\u2019t say friendly countries. They were, like, neutral, they were \u2026 they lived with them for years here.
\u201cI heard they were sending missiles to UAE. I said, that\u2019s strange. UAE is like the banker for Iran. There was no experts that would say that was going to happen. It\u2019s not a question of, like, gee, should you have known? And if we did know \u2013 big deal. We have to do what we have to do.\u201d
Vance \u2013 who was present to mark the signing of an initiative he is to lead investigating supposed fraud in Minnesota \u2013 accused a journalist of \u201ctrying to drive a wedge\u201d between him and Trump after he was asked if he had rethought his previously proclaimed opposition to US military adventures.
The difference between the current campaign and military engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan \u201cis that we have a smart president\u201d, said Vance, who served in the US Marine Corps in Iraq.
\u201cIn wars in the past, we\u2019ve had dumb presidents, and I trust President Trump to get the job done, to do a good job for the American people, and to make sure that the mistakes [of] the past aren\u2019t repeated.\u201d
Reports<\/a> have suggested that Vance is highly doubtful about the Iran war, having previously voiced opposition to the prospect of embarking on military action against the country.
Trump last week admitted that Vance was \u201cphilosophically \u2026 less enthusiastic\u201d about the war.
On Monday, as Vance stood behind him, Trump said: \u201cJD has been great \u2026 [he] understands better than most. If you give Iran a nuclear weapon, at least a very substantial part of the world would be blown up, and it\u2019ll be used almost immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pair attempt to strike united front amid reports vice-president skeptical over US-Israeli attack on IranDonald Trump revealed that he had asked China to delay his forthcoming visit to Beijing while the war with Iran was continuing, as he attempted to strike a united front on Monday with his vice-president, JD Vance, who is believed to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":204442,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-204441","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204441","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204441"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204441\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}