WASHINGTON, April 16. /TASS/. China has told the United States that it will not supply weapons to Iran, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said.

"[US] President [Donald] Trump has a very strong and direct relationship with [Chinese] President Xi [Jinping], and they've communicated on that, and China has assured us that that indeed is not going to happen, and in the spirit of the meeting they'll have next month," he told a news briefing.

The American leader is scheduled to visit Beijing on May 14-15.

Hegseth vehemently denied that Washington was succumbing to pressure from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in demanding that Iran stop enriching uranium.

"Not a single thing has been foisted upon the president of the United States. President Trump makes his own decisions about the interests of this country and defending our interests. Nothing gets foisted on President Trump," Hegseth said, adding that the conclusions that the American leader is actually pursuing Israeli policy in this case are "flat wrong."

The Chinese embassy in the United States earlier denied a CNN report that Beijing plans to supply Tehran with man-portable air defense systems through third countries over the next few weeks. "China has never supplied weapons to any of the parties to the conflict, and the information provided does not correspond to reality," diplomatic mission spokesman Liu Pengyu told TASS.