(Beijing) Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi for the first time, on the sidelines of a regional summit in Uzbekistan, Chinese state television CCTV announced without further details.
Posted yesterday at 11:10 p.m.
China, critical of Washington’s sanctions against Tehran, signed a 25-year strategic agreement with Iran in March 2021.
Beijing has long sought to strengthen ties with Tehran, with Xi Jinping describing Iran as “China’s main partner in the Middle East” during a rare visit to the country in 2016.
PHOTO IRAN’S PRESIDENTIAL WEBSITE/WANA, VIA REUTERS
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi
The meeting between the two leaders comes as talks over a potential deal to end Tehran’s development of nuclear weapons appear to have stalled.
Since April 2021, Iran has been engaged in EU-mediated talks to relaunch the JCPOA, the agreement reached in 2015 with the United Kingdom, France, Germany, China, Russia and the United States to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.
The previous text exploded in 2018 with the unilateral American withdrawal and the reinstatement of sanctions by Donald Trump, which led to the gradual release by Tehran of its obligations.
Xi Jinping and Ebrahim Raisi had spoken by telephone in July.