Axios reports that Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar met today in Beijing with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi. At the end of the meeting they published a joint peace initiative that includes a five-point plan halting the use of force and opening the Strait of Hormuz.

There are strong hints the US isn’t opposed but no official word.

Trump declined to comment on specifics but told Axios “negotiations with Iran are going well,” which is about as close to a tacit endorsement as you’ll get from this White House. Reading between the lines: Pakistan has been the key US-Iran mediator throughout this conflict, and they wouldn’t be launching a joint initiative with Beijing if Washington had a problem with it.

The five points are what you’d expect — ceasefire, peace talks, protection of energy infrastructure, restoration of shipping through the Strait, and a broader peace framework under the UN Charter. The energy infrastructure and Strait of Hormuz provisions are the ones crude traders will be zeroing in on.

Note that none of these address Iran’s ‘demands’, though it’s unclear if they’re in any position to be making demands.

The bigger picture here is China positioning itself as a peacemaker in a US-launched war, which is a remarkable geopolitical development. Beijing has the leverage to make this stick — they’re Iran’s biggest trade partner and top oil buyer.

Some of this was out earlier but we’re getting more details now.

Axios also reported:

In a brief phone call, President Trump told me “the negotiations with Iran are going well.” Asked specifically about the Pakistani-Chinese initiative, Trump didn’t criticize it but simply reiterated that the diplomacy was going well

So that’s that and clearly the market is buying into it with the S&P 500 up 2.5%.

This article was written by Adam Button at investinglive.com.