‘China supports Iran’s reasonable demands,’ Xi tells Tehran amid nuclear deal uncertainty

Phone call between leaders Xi Jinping and Hassan Rowhani comes after UN nuclear watchdog fails to agree on nuclear site inspections

Rowhani thanks China for aid to fight pandemic as well as its ‘just stance’ on nuclear deal and regional issues such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict’

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The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency and signatories have been trying to bring the US and Iran back into a 2015 nuclear deal. Photo: AP

Published: 6:00pm, 25 May 2021Updated: 11:26pm, 25 May 2021

President Xi Jinping said China would work closely with Iran on regional affairs amid growing uncertainty over the future of the Iran nuclear deal and the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

In a phone call on Monday with his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rowhani, the Chinese leader said he supported Iran’s “reasonable demands” in efforts to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers.

The call came after the United Nations nuclear watchdog said it could not reach an expected agreement on how to continue to inspect Iran’s nuclear sites.

The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency and signatories of the deal, including China, have been trying to bring the United States and Iran back into the 2015 deal.

Iran on Monday agreed to extend by one month the agreement allowing the IAEA to keep monitoring the sites while talks of lifting sanctions against Iran continued in Vienna.

The one-month temporary deal will expire soon after Iran’s presidential election on June 18, when conservative hardliner candidates are expected to replace the outgoing Rowhani, adding to the uncertainty of the negotiations in the Austrian capital.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said China welcomed the extension of the agreement, and called on the US to return to the Iran nuclear agreement.

“The Chinese side has done a lot of work to promote the progress of the negotiation,” Zhao said on Tuesday, adding the US should also remove sanctions on Iran and other countries including China.

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