China's Xi Receives Iran's Raisi As 3-Day Visit Begins
China's President Xi Jinping will hold talks with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi during his three-day visit to China, as he received him in Beijing on Tuesday.
China's President Xi Jinping will hold talks with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi during his three-day visit to China, as he received him in Beijing on Tuesday.
Xi had invited Raisi to Beijing, and their meeting comes as both Iran and China face rising tensions with the United States over a range of global issues.
Ahead of his visit, Raisi wrote an editorial in China's state-controlled People's Daily in which he said both countries believe that unilateralism and "violent" measures such as the imposition of "unjust" sanctions are the main causes of crises and insecurity in the world.
In the editorial, Raisi described China as an "old friend", and said Iran's efforts to strengthen bilateral relations would be unaffected by regional and international situations.
The two governments are expected to sign cooperation documents during the visit, according to Iran's state news agency IRNA. A 25-year strategic partnership deal signed in 2021 has remained largely on paper.
Xi visited Saudi Arabia in December and also met members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, followed by a joint statement in which the issue of three Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf was mentioned as a claim pursued by the United Arab Emirates.
The Iranian public showed a strong reaction once the joint statement was reported by Persian media, accusing their own government of being so weak that its ally China was subtly endorsing the UAE claim.
Xi and Raisi pledged to forge a stronger alliance when they last met in person on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in the Uzbek city of Samarkand in September.
During his weekly press conference on Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani referred to a meeting with Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein and United States Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley, and said Tehran uses all diplomatic capacities to realize the Islamic Republic’s national interests.
“Some governments have already played a role in this regard in good faith. Some governments are interested in using the capacity of their relations with both sides, and we will always welcome these joint efforts in good faith,” he added. “If the Iraqi government wants to play a role in this area, we take it seriously as the country is our friend, neighbor and brother, and we will use the capacities of the Iraqi government.”
Tehran, facing serious economic and political challenges insists that there is still a chance to restore the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the JCPOA, while the US, which withdrew from the original deal under former US president Donald Trump, has repeatedly announced that it is no longer focused on the deal.
Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian held a phone call with his Iraqi counterpart on Friday, a day before the Iraqi foreign minister met with Malley. According to the official readout of the meeting by the Iraqi foreign ministry, Hussein and Malley discussed the Iran nuclear talks and the European's attitude toward suspending them. Malley praised Iraq's diplomatic role and the initiatives it launched to ease the tension in the region, the statement added.
Since the current wave of antigovernment protests engulfed Iran in September, the Biden administration has announced that talks to revive the nuclear deal are not their priority anymore. Considering the international outcry over the Islamic Republic’s crackdown on dissent and human rights violations as well as the growing military ties between Tehran and Moscow, including from the US Congress, the prospects of saving the JCPOA is dimmer than ever.
Moreover, Kanaani expressed Iran’s readiness to exchange prisoners with the US in an “unconditional” manner without linking the swap to other issues, complaining that despite Iran’s goodwill, Washington has not taken an encouraging measure in this regard.
On Saturday, Hussein -- accompanied by Central Bank of Iraq Governor Ali al-Allaq -- met with Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo, and many other US officials and business leaders to discuss a host of economic issues. But an urgent issue was how to prevent Iran from using Iraq’s banking ties with the United States to launder US dollars and circumvent Washington’s sanctions.
In an interview with Al-Monitor in Washington on Sunday, Hussein said that "It’s no secret that I am in touch with both Iranian and American officials,” adding that “Both sides trust us, and that’s a good thing... It’s in Iraq’s interest that there be less tension between Washington and Tehran."
“I will continue these contacts,” said Hussein. “The US is an important ally, and Iran is an important neighbor, with whom we share many common interests, including a border, religion, culture, economics and trade. I hope both sides will start talking to each other again, but that’s their decision,” he added.
Elsewhere in his remarks, Kanaani touched on the issue of relations between Tehran and Riyadh, stressing the need for diplomacy to return the ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran back on track. Tehran welcomes any mediation by the Iraqi government and hopes that the efforts would improve relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, he said.
