Welcome back to the Daily Briefing.

This is Ezgi Akin, filling in for Gabrielle. 

Trump: Iran uranium removal ‘more for public relations’ 

UAE fast-tracks new pipeline bypassing Hormuz 

Iraqi parliament approves Zaidi’s new government

Lebanon reopens film archive despite war

Turkey’s outsize influence in Somalia

Trump: Removing Iran’s uranium is ‘more for public relations’ 

US President Donald Trump speaks during an event to sign a memorandum in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington, DC, May 5, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci 

US President Donald Trump left Beijing on Friday after a two-day visit and high-stakes talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping, with the Iran war looming large over the trip.

Tehran had looked to Beijing to press Trump to soften Washington’s position, but the visit yielded no visible breakthrough on the conflict.

Speaking before departing, Trump said removing Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium was largely a matter of public relations.

“I just feel better if I got it, actually, but . . . I think it’s more for public relations than it is for anything else,” Trump told Fox News. “The other thing we could do is bomb it again, but I just, I would feel better getting it, and we will get it.”

Iran possesses roughly 440 kilograms of highly enriched uranium that with further enrichment could be used to develop as many as 11 nuclear weapons.

Following Trump’s departure, China’s Foreign Ministry urged a truce in the war “as soon as possible.” “There is no point in continuing this conflict, which should not have happened in the first place,” the ministry said in a statement.

Meanwhile, the number of Chinese tankers that safely transited the Strait of Hormuz increased over the past two days amid ongoing talks between Trump and Xi. 

Citing an informed source, Iran’s........

© Al Monitor