China to host Iranian foreign minister amid US pressure over nuclear talks
Hossein Amir-Abdollahian set to visit straight after Beijing receives delegations from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain
Arab states have argued that a nuclear deal should contain more wide-ranging restrictions on Iran
Laura Zhou
Published: 11:00pm, 10 Jan, 2022
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, pictured during a video call with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, is to visit Beijing. Photo: Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, pictured during a video call with Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, is to visit Beijing. Photo: Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian is to visit China later this week, local media reported, as pressure grows to resurrect the Iran nuclear deal.
Amir-Abdollahian’s trip, reported by Iran Press news agency, will be the first to China by a member of the Iranian cabinet since Ebrahim Raisi became president in August.
Foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday that the 25-year agreement on economic and security cooperation, signed with China last March, would be high on the agenda.
The visit was announced as Iran’s main Sunni rivals in the region also sent delegations to China. The Sunni-ruled Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have a fierce rivalry with Shia Iran and are cautious about attempts by US President Joe Biden’s administration to revive the 2015 nuclear deal.
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Leaders in Saudi Arabia and other Arab states believe that any deal with Iran should go beyond nuclear issues and also cover its missile programmes and activities, which they say destabilise the region.
On Saturday, the Chinese foreign ministry said that foreign ministers from four of the six members of the GCC – Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain – as well as GCC secretary general Nayef Falah al-Hajraf would visit China from Monday at Beijing’s invitation, with energy supply security and the Iran nuclear deal among the items on the agenda.
Amir-Abdollahian’s trip also follows last week’s latest round of talks – the first since Raisi became Iranian president – about the nuclear deal, known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
The 2015 deal put limits on Iran’s nuclear programme in exchange for aid and the lifting of international nuclear sanctions, but in 2018, then US president Donald Trump withdrew the US from the agreement before reimposing sanctions on Iran. Tehran has said it will not talk directly to the Americans.
Fan Hongda, a professor at the Middle East Studies Institute of Shanghai International Studies University, said that hosting top Iranian diplomats on the heels of the visit by foreign ministers of the Gulf states could be seen as part of Beijing’s diplomatic balancing act in the Middle East.
As one of the few countries to have maintained good relations with the Arab nations as well as Iran and Israel, China has stepped up its engagement in the Middle East in recent years.
“China has promoted balanced diplomacy in the Persian Gulf by deepening ties with Iran while maintaining good relations with the Gulf states,” Fan said. “Both Iran and Saudi Arabia are designated as what China calls comprehensive partners – a reflection of that balance.”
Fan said both Beijing and Tehran were willing to deepen their ties.
Last year, during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s visit to Tehran, the two sides signed their 25-year agreement, which was widely seen as an economic lifeline for Iran in its defiance against US sanctions.
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Beijing has said previously that it welcomed the resumption of nuclear talks and would support Iran’s “legitimate and reasonable claims”.
Hopes for a revival of the nuclear deal were raised last year when the US agreed with the remaining signatories – China, Russia, Britain, Germany, France and the European Union – to chart a diplomatic way forward while lifting some of the sanctions, including travel restrictions on Iranian diplomats working at the United Nations headquarters in New York.
However, the US has cautioned that time is running out to strike a new deal. US national security adviser Jake Sullivan last month said that there may be only “weeks” left before the talks were no longer “viable”.
Sticking points remain, such as Iran asking the US to provide a legal guarantee that it would not again pull out of a deal – a request that Washington is not expected to agree to.
SCMP
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