China and Iran vow to work together for peace amid Israel-Gaza war

Communist Party international department chief Liu Jianchao meets several senior Iranian politicians during visit to Middle Eastern country

Beijing says it supports Tehran in its efforts to maintain regional stability, while Iran pledges to strengthen cooperation to address crisis

Reading Time:2 minutes

Senior Chinese diplomat Liu Jianchao (left) shakes hands with Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, the secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council of Iran, in Tehran on Tuesday. Weibo / @深柳斋

Published: 9:00pm, 6 Dec 2023

Beijing and Tehran have vowed to support and coordinate with each other diplomatically amid the Israel-Gaza war.

Communist Party international department chief Liu Jianchao visited Tehran where he met several senior politicians on Tuesday.

They included Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council of Iran, an administrative assembly that plays an advisory role to the head of state, and Ghodrat Ali Heshmatian, the chairman of Iran’s House of Parties, a government-funded organisation aimed at minimising differences between the country’s registered political parties.

China said it supported Iran in playing its role to maintain regional peace and stability, while Iran pledged to step up coordination with China on international and regional affairs.

During Liu’s meeting with Heshmatian, he said Beijing would like to “strengthen communication and cooperation” with Tehran and support it to “maintain regional peace and stability, and firmly defend international justice”.

Heshmatian said Iran supported China’s position on promoting a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza conflict, adding that Iran was willing to “strengthen cooperation with China under the United Nations framework and jointly address the challenges of the crisis”.

Zolghadr expressed his support for China during his meeting with Liu, saying Iran was “ready to work with China to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli issue and achieve justice”.

China helped broker a deal to resume diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia earlier this year, but it has had few official exchanges with Tehran since the Israel-Gaza war started, despite Beijing being widely seen as having leverage with Iran.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x