US President Donald Trump says China has had minimal involvement in Iran and that the construction of pipelines is making the Strait of Hormuz “not very necessary anymore”.

“I said ‘please don’t get involved’ to President Xi … there’s very little invovlement from China,” Trump tells reporters, noting that Beijing gets most of its oil from the Strait of Hormuz, and adding that piplines are being built to transport oil through Syria rather than the waterway.

“A lot of alternatives are being made to the Hormuz Strait … [Iran is] going to end up with a Hormuz Strait that is not very necessary anymore. Pipelines are being built all over the Middle East no so they (oil tanker) don’t have to go through the Hormuz.”