ISTANBUL

China on Friday called for dialogue after US President Donald Trump said a “big force” is heading toward Iran.

Beijing “hopes Iran will maintain national stability, and hopes all parties will cherish peace, exercise restraint, and resolve differences through dialogue,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told reporters in the Chinese capital.

“You know, we have a lot of ships going in that direction, just in case. We have a big flotilla (heading) in that direction, and we'll see what happens,” Trump told reporters on Thursday aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, DC, from Davos, Switzerland.

“We have a big force going toward Iran. I'd rather not see anything happen,” he added.

Trump said the US is watching Iran “very closely.”

“We have an armada. We have a massive fleet heading in that direction, and maybe we won't have to use it. We'll see,” he stressed.

At the peak of protests in Iran early this month, Trump had warned that the US would “take very strong action” against Tehran but tensions have decreased over the past week as demonstrations subsided.

The death toll from anti-government protests in Iran rose to 5,002, the US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) said on Thursday. Iranian officials have accused the US of backing what they describe as “armed rioters,” who have carried out several attacks in public places nationwide.

Reacting to reports that the US would allow China to purchase Venezuelan oil but not at the “undercut” prices at which crude oil was sold during captured President Nicholas Maduro's administration, Guo said the South American nation “is a sovereign country and has the right to independently choose its cooperation partners.”

The Trump administration, in a military operation on Jan. 3, captured Venezuelan leader Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, in Caracas, and flew them to New York, where the couple has been detained.