China’s foreign minister told his Iranian counterpart this week that Beijing is prepared to safeguard Iran’s rights and interests, as China angles for a mediating role in Tehran’s monthslong conflict with the United States ahead of a high-stakes summit between the two countries’ presidents.
Wang Yi met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Beijing, telling him China is willing to deepen dialogue and cooperation with Iran. “We encourage Iran and the US to stay rational and restrained,” Wang said.
The meeting comes roughly a week before Chinese President Xi Jinping travels to Washington for a state visit and summit with President Donald Trump, a trip unfolding as the Iran war approaches its seventh month. Trump had initially predicted the conflict would wrap up within six weeks; instead, it has centered on a prolonged struggle over the Strait of Hormuz, the corridor through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil trade passes, as fighting chokes off shipping traffic.
China has been the largest buyer of Iran’s sanctioned oil throughout the conflict, though those purchases have fallen sharply since fighting began, as Beijing draws down imports and taps its own reserves rather than risk exposure to American penalties. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent unveiled a plan late last month — dubbed “Operation Economic Outcast” — to expand secondary sanctions targeting Iran’s trading partners. The plan did not name China, but analysts say it would fall heaviest on Tehran’s largest customer. China’s foreign ministry pushed back at the time, calling unilateral sanctions without United Nations Security Council authorization a violation of international law.
Wang said Beijing does not want to see the conflict spread into Yemen and the Red Sea, where fighting between Yemen’s internationally recognized government and the Iran-backed Houthi movement has displaced more than 100,000 people inside the country, with thousands more fleeing abroad, according to United Nations figures.
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Beijing has also been drawn directly into the war’s fallout. Chinese officials disputed U.S. media reports this month alleging Chinese entities had supplied Tehran with satellite imagery of a military base in Jordan housing American troops, used both before and after an Iranian strike that killed three U.S. soldiers there. Trump has separately warned Beijing against selling weapons to Iran, and Washington sanctioned three China-based satellite companies in May over their alleged role supporting Iran’s military operations.
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Despite the friction with Washington, analysts tracking the relationship say Beijing has grown visibly frustrated with Tehran’s own posture in the war. China has consistently pressed for an end to the conflict and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, the vital oil-shipping corridor whose disrupted traffic has driven global energy prices sharply higher, while Iran’s leadership has largely resisted de-escalation. Alfredo Montufar-Helu, a Beijing-based managing director at Ankura China Advisors, said the muted tone of China’s recent public messaging toward Iran reflects that gap. “This is Beijing signaling some real dissatisfaction with Tehran,” he said.
Whether Xi raises Iran prominently during his Washington visit remains an open question among analysts who track the relationship, some of whom argue China could use the summit to help broker a reopening of the strait — a move that would showcase Beijing’s leverage over Tehran without requiring it to abandon the relationship altogether. Others expect Xi to keep the issue at arm’s length, mirroring the low-key treatment Beijing has given the war in recent public statements, even as trade, Taiwan and technology competition are expected to dominate the broader summit agenda.
For now, Wang’s meeting with Araghchi signals that Beijing intends to maintain a visible diplomatic role in the conflict, extending an offer of support to Tehran even as it calibrates how directly to align itself with a partner whose war has complicated China’s own dealings with Washington.
