China willing to ‘safeguard Iran’s legitimate rights’, official says

What the report says

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Beijing that China is willing to deepen dialogue and cooperation with Iran and defend what it describes as Iran’s legitimate rights and interests, according to Al Jazeera’s report citing AFP and Reuters. The meeting took place on Wednesday, ahead of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s planned trip to the United States, where he is expected to meet Donald Trump.

Wang urged Iran and the US to remain restrained and called for steps to reopen the Strait of Hormuz quickly. He also said China does not want tensions to spread further into Yemen and the Red Sea, and said Tehran and Washington should rebuild a negotiation mechanism based on existing understandings. His comments came amid wider regional concern after the war on Iran, which Beijing says exposes weaknesses in the Middle East’s current security setup.

The report also noted that China has rejected US media claims that Chinese entities provided Iran with satellite imagery linked to a military site in Jordan. More broadly, China is a major economic partner of Iran and the biggest buyer of Iranian crude, which gives Beijing significant leverage as it positions itself as a possible diplomatic player in the region.