The US is pausing a $14bn (£10.4bn) arms sale to Taiwan to ensure it has enough weapons for the Iran war, acting Navy secretary Hung Cao has said.

Cao confirmed this at a Senate hearing, days after President Donald Trump appeared non-committal about the sale following his meetings with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

A spokesperson for Taiwan’s presidential office told reporters on Friday that they had not received any information about “US adjustments to the arms sale”.

The sale of US arms to Taiwan has long irked Beijing, which claims the self-governed island as its territory and has not ruled out taking it by force.

“Right now we’re doing a pause in order to make sure we have the munitions we need for Epic Fury - which we have plenty,” Cao said at the hearing on Thursday, using the code name for the US-Israel joint military operation in Iran.