BEIJING: China’s foreign minister Wang Yi has called for a new forum todefuse tensions in the Middle East after a meeting with his Iraniancounterpart where he reiterated Beijing’s support for Tehran.
Wang and Javid Zarif also reaffirmed their commitment to Iran’s 2015nuclear deal with world powers, according to the Chinese foreign ministry,an implicit rebuke of the United States for abandoning the accord duringtheir Saturday meeting in China’s southwestern Tengchong city.
Iran has been locked in an acrimonious relationship with Saudi Arabia, theother major Middle Eastern power, over the war in Yemen, Iranian influencein Iraq and Saudi support for Washington’s sanctions on Tehran.
“China proposes to build a regional multilateral dialogue platform withequal participation of all stakeholders,” said the Chinese foreign ministrystatement.
The forum would “enhance mutual understanding through dialogue and explorepolitical and diplomatic solutions to security issues in the Middle East”,the statement added.
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Wang added that support for the Iranian nuclear deal, negotiated by theObama administration but ultimately abandoned by Donald Trump, would be aprecondition of entry to the forum.
Zarif said on Twitter his “fruitful talks” with Wang amounted to arejection of “US unilateralism” and had also focused on strategic ties andcollaboration on the development of a coronavirus vaccine.
