Security officials will decide on restoring Iran's internet, spokesperson says

China urged all sides to remain calm and exercise restraint on Monday after US President Donald Trump threatened to launch a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz following failed talks with Iran.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said keeping the key waterway safe, stable and unimpeded served the common interest of the international community.

China stands ready to work with all sides to safeguard energy security and supply, Guo told a regular press conference.

Commenting on talks in Islamabad, he said the opening of negotiations between the United States and Iran was a step toward easing the situation.

He added that China hoped all parties would abide by the ceasefire.

Guo also said China had always adopted a prudent and responsible approach to its military exports.

CNN reported late on Friday that US intelligence indicated Beijing was preparing to deliver new air defense systems to Iran within the next few weeks.

US restrictions on Iran’s vessels are illegal and “amount to piracy,” Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said on Monday and warned that Tehran would impose a permanent mechanism to control the Strait of Hormuz after US threats to blockade it.

“If the security of the Islamic Republic’s ports in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman is threatened, no port in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman will remain safe,” said the headquarters’ spokesman.

He added that, after the end of the war, Iran would enforce a lasting mechanism for controlling the Strait of Hormuz.

The US plan for a naval blockade of Iran’s ports shows “confusion and a lack of a proper and workable strategy,” said an Iranian lawmaker on Monday.

Vahid Ahmadi, a member of parliament’s national security committee, said any maritime blockade of the Islamic Republic would lead to wider global energy crises.

“The first place where it would create a flood is the economy of Western countries and the Americans,” he said.

He added that the United States had believed it could achieve at the negotiating table at least some of what it failed to gain in war.

Saudi Arabia’s crude oil sales to China are set to halve in May as the war in the Middle East disrupts flows and pushes up prices, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing traders familiar with the matter.

The world’s biggest oil exporter is expected to ship about 20 million barrels to its customers in China next month.

That compares with roughly 40 million barrels allocated for loading in April.

The traders said the lower volumes reflected market disruption linked to the regional conflict, which has affected supply routes and lifted crude prices.

The figure marked a 68% increase from the 975 executions recorded in 2024, according to a joint annual report by Norway-based Iran Human Rights and Paris-based Together Against the Death Penalty.

If the Islamic Republic “survives the current crisis, there is a serious risk that executions will be used even more extensively as a tool of oppression and repression,” read the report.

The report said 48 women were among those executed.

The two groups said the sharp rise pointed to a broader use of the death penalty as a tool of intimidation.