WASHINGTON (Dispatches) - The presidents of the United States, China, and Russia are scheduled to hold an unprecedented trilateral meeting next week on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Shenzhen, the White House confirmed on Friday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, asserted that any potential agreements in Shenzhen could not be imposed on other countries. He said the global order had to be based on “mutual benefit and mutual respect,” rather than attempts to impose a particular vision on others.
The prospect of the meeting comes amid criticism from Beijing and Moscow over Washington’s repeated acts of unprovoked aggression against Iran, in collaboration with the Israeli regime.
The latest round of the aggression prompted Tehran to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz in retaliation for the adversaries and their allies’ use of the waterway to either target Iranian soil or impose illegal vessel traffic through the chokepoint.
The closure has sent shockwaves through global energy markets, prompting fuel prices to skyrocket and forcing China to release substantial quantities of its oil reserves to stabilize energy markets.
Iran’s Parliament speaker Muhammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in an interview with Al Jazeera that the Strait of Hormuz would never return to its pre-war state.
The U.S. official also claimed that the meeting was intended to serve as the “beginning of hopefully a conversation” on nuclear disarmament “that can be productive going forward.”
The official said, though, that no agreements were expected to be announced.
The meeting is to come months after the expiration of the New START treaty in February, ending restrictions on the US and Russian nuclear arsenals for the first time in more than half a century.
Trump has rejected Moscow’s proposal to extend the agreement for another year.