Iran says it hopes to work with China to de-escalate Israel-Gaza war

Chinese head of regional affairs Wang Di says there is an ‘urgent need for ceasefire’ in meetings with Iranian diplomatic officials
Tehran has been key backer of Hamas but denies involvement in militant group’s surprise attack on Israel last month

China-Middle East relations

Hayley Wong

Published: 5:23pm, 13 Nov 2023

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China’s head of West Asian and North African affairs visited Iran over the weekend in a bid to boost ties and discuss the Israel-Gaza war.

Tehran said it hoped to “strengthen communication and coordination” with China to de-escalate the war in Gaza as Wang Di, director general for the region at the Chinese foreign ministry, met Iranian diplomatic officials on Saturday, according to the ministry. It was the first visit by a Beijing official to the country since the war began last month.

Wang reiterated Beijing’s stance on the war, saying there was an “urgent need for ceasefire” as the conflict had caused “large-scale civilian casualties”. He made the comments during meetings with Ali Bagheri, Iranian foreign ministry deputy for political affairs, and leaders of regional departments.

The meeting comes just ahead of a summit between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart Joe Biden on Wednesday in San Francisco, where the two leaders will talk about the conflict in Gaza. China’s influence on Iran has been viewed as having potential to prevent the war from escalating.

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Iran has been a key backer of militant group Hamas, giving financial and military support, but it denies involvement in the group’s sudden assault on Israel on October 7, which sparked the war in Gaza.

Tehran has also backed other anti-Israel militant groups in the region, which has led to international concern over Iran’s position on the war.

Wang said Beijing and Tehran had made “consistent progress” in their relations, and exchanges and cooperation in all areas had been “strengthened continuously”.

Beijing signalled it would elevate its cooperation with Tehran in August, when Xi met his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi on the sidelines of the Brics summit in Johannesburg and pledged to work with Iran on multilateral alliances.

During the summit, Iran and three other Middle Eastern states, along with Ethiopia and Argentina, were admitted to the bloc, which had previously consisted of just five major emerging economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

On the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meetings in Kyrgyzstan in October, Chinese Premier Li Qiang told Iranian First Vice-President Mohammad Mokhber that Beijing wanted to boost coordination with Tehran through multilateral platforms such as the United Nations, the SCO and Brics.

On Saturday, Wang congratulated Iran on its Brics membership and expressed China’s willingness to “strengthen cooperation within the cooperative framework”.

Tehran said it “highly values” relations with Beijing and pledged support to Chinese global initiatives.

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Where China stands on the Israel-Gaza war

Beijing has supported the heavily sanctioned state in stepping up its participation in international platforms through the SCO. Iran became the ninth member of the Beijing-led regional group in July.

China also helped broker a deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia to restore diplomatic ties between the regional rivals in March.

Saudi and Iranian leaders met on Saturday, calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and unconditional delivery of humanitarian aid.

China signed a 25-year comprehensive cooperation agreement with Iran in 2021 to deepen their collaboration in the economy, security, technology and other areas.

Iran has been an important source of China’s crude oil imports, but much of it has been relabelled as originating in countries such as Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates and Oman to avoid sanctions, according to the US Energy Information Administration.