China and Iran hold talks in Beijing ahead of Xi-Trump summit
Foreign ministers Wang Yi and Abbas Araghchi met as Tehran seeks to align with Beijing before China's leader visits Washington
BEIJING (MNTV) — China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi held talks with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araghchi, in Beijing on Wednesday, as Tehran sought to coordinate with its most powerful partner days before a high-stakes summit between the Chinese and US leaders, China’s state news agency Xinhua reported.
Araghchi’s one-day visit was his second in-person meeting with Wang in the Chinese capital since the United States and Israel launched their war on Iran on Feb. 28, following an earlier round in May.
The timing was pointed: Chinese President Xi Jinping is due to visit Washington on Sept. 24 for talks with US President Donald Trump, and Tehran is eager to secure a unified stance with Beijing before China enters those sensitive discussions, in which the Iran war is expected to feature alongside trade and technology.
The two ministers had also met days earlier on the sidelines of the BRICS summit of major emerging economies in New Delhi, where leaders urged “maximum restraint” over the escalating conflict in the Middle East.
China has positioned itself as a would-be mediator in the war, repeatedly calling for an immediate ceasefire and for commercial shipping to resume through the Strait of Hormuz — the vital Gulf waterway Iran has effectively blockaded since the fighting began.
Beijing’s interest is partly economic: it is one of the largest buyers of Iranian oil, much of it discounted, under a “comprehensive strategic partnership” that saw bilateral trade exceed $41 billion last year, and it has little appetite for the disruption a prolonged blockade would bring to energy flows into Asia.
Notably, China’s call to reopen the strait has been absent from Iran’s own accounts of the two sides’ talks, hinting at a gap between Beijing’s priorities and Tehran’s leverage.
The meeting comes amid friction that could shadow the Xi-Trump summit. Beijing this week denied a Wall Street Journal report alleging that Chinese entities had provided Iran with satellite imagery of a US-linked target — a claim that, if pressed by Washington, could raise tensions between the two powers.
The war began Feb. 28, when the US and Israel struck government, military, and air-defense sites across Iran; Iran retaliated with missile and drone attacks on Israel and US bases in the region.
A June memorandum of understanding, mediated by Pakistan and Qatar, briefly paused the fighting before collapsing, and diplomatic efforts to end the conflict have continued without a breakthrough.
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