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China says it will make efforts to safeguard Iran nuclear agreement, defend bilateral relations

Thursday, 25 March 2021 6:13 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 25 March 2021 6:17 PM ]

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi shakes hands with Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during their meeting at the Diaoyutai State Guest House in Beijing on December 31, 2019. (File photo by AFP)

The Chinese Commerce Ministry says China will make efforts to safeguard the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that the US abandoned in 2018 under former president Donald Trump.

Speaking at a news briefing on Thursday, Commerce Ministry spokesman Gao Feng also said China will defend the legitimate interests of Sino-Iranian relations, noting that Beijing has not received notices of sanctions on Iranian oil from the Biden administration.

The remarks came after Reuters reported that Iran has “indirectly” moved record volumes of oil into China in recent months, amid global hopes that the United States’ unilateral sanctions on Iran would be lifted under the new US administration.

Iran and six world powers – China, Russia, the US, France, Britain and Germany – reached the nuclear agreement in July 2015. But the US, under Trump, withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in May 2018 and subsequently pursued a “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran.

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Backed by the three European parties to the deal, the Biden administration has called on Iran to reverse all the “remedial measures” it took as a response to the US withdrawal, so as to revive the JCPOA.

Tehran has rejected the US position, citing the US withdrawal as the cause of its actions, asserting that it will not reverse its measures before a US return to its JCPOA commitments, including the lifting of the illegal sanctions Washington slapped on Tehran under the maximum pressure policy.

China and Russia have been vocal supporters of Iran’s position since Biden took office. Both of the world powers maintain friendly ties with Iran.

Meanwhile, Iran and China are working to finalize the 25-year Sino-Iranian Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which was announced in a joint statement during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Tehran in 2016.

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