China, ‘deeply distressed,’ calls for an end to the U.S.-Iran war

China’s foreign minister on Wednesday called for a comprehensive ceasefire in the Iran war, in comments that could inject new energy into stalled efforts to end the two-month conflict between the United States and Iran.Wang Yi said his country was “deeply distressed” by the conflict. He spoke after meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who was visiting Beijing for the first time since the war with the U.S. and Israel started Feb. 28.China’s close economic and political ties to Tehran give it a unique position of influence. The Trump administration is pressing China to use that relationship to urge the Islamic Republic to open the Strait of Hormuz.The Chinese minister’s comments followed an earlier statement by U.S. President Donald Trump that he was pausing his short-lived U.S. effort to guide stranded commercial vessels out of the Strait of Hormuz in hopes that a deal could be finalized. A shaky ceasefire has been largely holding, despite exchanges of fire during the U.S. push to reopen the strait on Monday.Iran’s effective closure of the strait, a vital waterway through which major oil and gas supplies, fertilizer and other petroleum products passed before the war, has sent fuel prices skyrocketing, rattled the global economy and put enormous economic pressure on countries, including major powers like China.The spot price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, fell to around $100 per barrel Wednesday, easing significantly from big price jumps earlier in the week. The prices are still well above the roughly $70 a barrel that crude was selling for before the war began. Trump also due to visit China Araghchi’s visit to China comes ahead of a planned visit by Trump to Beijing for a high-profile summit May 14-15 with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The trip would be Trump’s first to China during his second term and the first by a U.S. president since Trump visited in 2017.“We believe that a co