Iran’s Majlis (Parliament) speaker has warned that the United States’ efforts at sustaining military escalation near the Strait of Hormuz could trigger a fresh global financial crisis at a time when Washington’s national debt already stands at a whopping $39 trillion.

Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf made the remarks in a post on X on Thursday after it was reported that yields on 30-year US Treasury bonds had climbed above five percent for the first time since before the 2008 global financial crisis, amid mounting concerns over inflation and war-driven energy costs.

“So you’re funding [Pete] Hegseth the failed TV host at rates unheard of since 2007, so he can cosplay as Secretary of War in our backyard in Hormuz?” Qalibaf wrote, referring to the US official’s former career in television.

The top legislator noted how the US’s funding crisis had caused the debt to snowball and its continued aggressive posture at astronomical costs only served a “live action role-playing (LARP)” in Hormuz.

“You know what’s crazier than $39 trillion in debt? Paying a pre-GFC (global financial crisis) premium to fund a LARP and all you’ll get is a brand new GFC,” he wrote.

On April 13, US President Donald Trump announced continuation of an illegal blockade of Iran’s vessels and ports in violation of the terms of a ceasefire he had announced earlier that month.

Iran, which had already shut down the strait to enemies and their allies in retaliation for the unprovoked American-Israeli aggression that targeted the country from February 28 to April 7, then began imposing far stricter controls over the waterway.

The Islamic Republic has refused to rejoin negotiations with Washington unless Tehran’s demands, including removal of the blockade, realization of a definitive end to whatever aggression on all fronts, and provision of compensation, were met.

Both Hegseth and Trump have been painting victorious pictures of either the war or the current American posture towards Iran.

Numerous reports, however, have been proving otherwise, including those pointing to the US secretary of war’s misleading Trump about “American success” against the Islamic Republic.

US President Donald Trump departed China on Friday touting business deals that gave markets little to cheer, while Beijing warned Washington about mishandling Taiwan and said its war with Iran should never have started.

Trump’s visit to America’s main strategic and economic rival, the first by a US president since his last trip in 2017, had aimed for tangible results to beef up his dented approval ratings ahead of crucial midterm elections.

The summit was filled with pageantry, from grand receptions with goose-stepping soldiers to lavish banquets and private tours of a secret garden, while Trump repeatedly heaped praise on his host, commenting on his warmth and stature.

“It’s been an incredible visit. I think a lot of good has come of it,” Trump told Xi at their final meeting at the Zhongnanhai complex, a former imperial garden housing the offices of Chinese leaders, before they dined on a menu of lobster balls and Kung Pao scallops.

But just before Friday’s meeting, China’s foreign ministry issued a blunt statement outlining its frustration with the United States and Israel’s war with Iran.

“This conflict, which should never have happened, has no reason to continue,” the ministry said, adding that China was supporting efforts to reach a peace deal in a war that had severely affected energy supplies and the global economy.

At Zhongnanhai, Trump said the leaders had discussed Iran and felt “very similar”, though Xi did not comment.

Trump had been expected to urge China to use its leverage with Iran to make a deal. But analysts doubt Xi will be willing to push Tehran hard or end support for its military, given Iran’s value to Beijing as a strategic counterweight to the US.

A brief US summary of Thursday’s talks highlighted what the White House called the leaders’ shared desire to reopen the Strait of Hormuz off Iran, through which a fifth of global oil and gas once flowed, and Xi’s apparent interest in American oil purchases to pare its dependence on the Middle East.

“What’s notable is that there’s no Chinese commitment to do anything specific with regards to Iran,” said Patricia Kim, a foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution.

Boeing shares slide on underwhelming deal

US officials said they had also agreed deals to sell farm goods and made progress on setting up mechanisms to manage future trade, with both sides expected to identify $30 billion of non-sensitive goods.

There were scant details of the deals, however, and no signs of a breakthrough on selling Nvidia’s advanced H200 AI chips to China, despite CEO Jensen Huang’s dramatic last-minute addition to the trip.

Trump told Fox News that China had agreed to order 200 Boeing jets, its first purchase of US-made commercial jets in nearly a decade, but that was far short of the roughly 500 expected by markets, and Boeing shares fell more than 4%.

“For the market, the summit can be strategically reassuring while underwhelming in substance,” said Chim Lee, senior China analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit.

Chinese stocks slid on Friday as the summit between the leaders of the world’s top two economies produced few deals to excite investors.

The summit’s main achievement may be maintaining a fragile trade truce struck when the leaders last met in October and Trump suspended triple-digit tariffs on Chinese goods while Xi backed away from choking off supplies of vital rare earths.

It has not yet been decided whether to extend the truce beyond its expiry later this year, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, accompanying Trump, told Bloomberg TV on Friday.

Such an extension would be “the most basic benchmark” for the summit, said the Brookings’ Kim.

Stark warning on Taiwan

Xi’s remarks to Trump that mishandling Taiwan, the democratically governed island Beijing claims, could lead to conflict, delivered a sharp, if not unprecedented, warning during a summit that otherwise appeared friendly and relaxed.

Taiwan, just 50 miles (80 km) off China’s coast, has long been a flashpoint in ties, with Beijing refusing to rule out use of military force to gain control of the island and the US bound by law to provide it the means of self-defence.

“US policy on the issue of Taiwan is unchanged as of today,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also travelling with Trump, told NBC News, adding the Chinese “always raise it … we always make clear our position and we move on.”

Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung thanked the United States on Friday for repeatedly expressing its support.

While they may not have clinched many deals, both sides celebrated a steadier footing in a relationship Xi called the most important in the world.

“We must make it work and never mess it up,” he said at Thursday’s state banquet.

Indian billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani has agreed to pay a multi-million-dollar settlement in a US civil court case linked to corruption without admitting guilt, his company said Friday.

The November 2024 indictment in New York accused the industrialist and multiple subordinates of deliberately misleading international investors as part of a vast bribery scheme.

Adani was accused of having participated in an estimated $250 million scheme to bribe Indian officials for lucrative solar energy supply contracts.

Adani, along with his nephew Sagar Adani, agreed to the “payment of a civil penalty” totalling $18 million, while noting that it came “without admitting or denying the allegations made in the civil complaint”, a letter from Adani Green Energy to the Mumbai stock exchange read.

The penalty payment comes as US prosecutors are reported to be set to drop charges against Adani, The New York Times reported on Thursday.

The Adani letter, which noted that the final judgement of the US court is still awaited, stressed that the “company is not a party to this proceeding, and no charges have been brought against it”.

The New York Times said the move to abandon the charges, brought under President Joe Biden’s administration, came after Adani hired a new legal team led by Robert Giuffra, one of President Donald Trump’s personal lawyers.

With a business empire spanning coal, airports, cement, and media, the chairman of Adani Group has been rocked in recent years by corporate fraud allegations and a stock crash.

Adani, a close ally of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was born in Ahmedabad in Gujarat state to a middle-class family but dropped out of school at 16.

He moved to India’s financial capital, Mumbai, to find work in the city’s lucrative gem trade.

After a short stint in his brother’s plastics business, he launched the flagship family conglomerate that bears his name in 1988 by branching out into the export trade.

His big break came seven years later with a contract to build and operate a commercial shipping port in Gujarat.