Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian met Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Tuesday in Tianjin, where the two pledged to deepen ties through the full implementation of their 25-year strategic deal and vowed joint resistance to what they called US “unilateralism.”
Pezeshkian conveyed the greetings of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and said Tehran was ready to boost relations with Beijing “to the maximum level.”
“China can count on Iran as a friendly and determined ally… Injustice, aggression, and unilateralism must be prevented," Pezeshkian said. "Iran seeks a world governed by law and equal relations among nations, not by force and coercion.”
Iran is ready to expand comprehensive relations and cooperation with China, Pezeshkian said, including the full implementation of the 25-year comprehensive agreement.
For his part, Xi reaffirmed that Iran was a “strategic partner,” saying China was committed to accelerating the implementation of agreements reached in previous meetings, according to Iran's readout of the call.
“China stands by justice and fairness and recognizes Iran’s legitimate right to peaceful nuclear use.”
Xi also condemned attacks on Iran as "violations of international norms."
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, where Pezeshkian also held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
In an interview with China’s state broadcaster CCTV, Pezeshkian said Iran faced “double standards” from Western powers that violated the 2015 nuclear deal and then accused Tehran of non-compliance.
“The same countries that violated the JCPOA are now claiming that Iran is not fulfilling its commitments,” he said, referring to the nuclear agreement.
On security, Pezeshkian said Iran did not seek war but had shown it could defend itself. He pledged cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) “within internationally accepted frameworks,” while criticizing what he called the agency’s lack of fairness.
Also, in a meeting with Iranian expats in China, Pezeshkian said “if Israel is rampaging today, it is because of the technologies provided to it by the United States and its other allies."
On Monday, Putin said Russia and Iran were in constant contact over international issues, including Iran’s nuclear program. Separately, Iran’s foreign minister announced that Tehran, Moscow and Beijing had sent a joint letter to the UN Secretary-General and Security Council condemning European attempts to restore international sanctions on Iran.
“I never said we sent signals to America and they did not respond,” ministry spokesperson Esmail Baghaei told reporters in Tehran.
His comments followed an exclusive report by Iran International, which said senior Iranian officials admitted in private meetings that the White House ignored at least 15 messages from Tehran seeking renewed negotiations.
Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi told told editors of Iranian print and online media in a private meeting on Saturday that US officials had disregarded Iran’s outreach. In a separate session, deputy foreign minister for legal affairs Kazem Gharibabadi said Iran had used different channels to contact Washington but received no reply.
Elsewhere during his press conference, Baghaei added that Iran remained skeptical about US intentions. “In relation to America, we must always consider the reality that we were confronted with Israeli aggression and US support in the middle of a negotiating process. Certainly, we cannot talk about the future without taking past experiences into account.”
Baghaei accused Washington of undermining diplomacy. “In the past ten years America has disrupted diplomatic processes two or three times. These instances show that Washington did not have goodwill from the beginning,” he said.
The European powers -- Britain, France and Germany -- triggered the 30-day snapback process last week, demanding that Iran resume talks with the United States, allow full IAEA inspections, and clarify its stockpiles of enriched uranium or face restored UN sanctions.
Baghaei also addressed remarks he made in an interview with the Guardian suggesting Iran was ready to reduce enrichment levels to the 3.67% cap under the 2015 nuclear deal if a comprehensive agreement was reached.
On Tuesday, he said: “I explained that if the other side fulfills its commitments, we will do the same. But we are very far from that point.”
Washington has insisted Iran halt all uranium enrichment on its territory, a condition repeatedly rejected by Iranian leaders as a red line. Baghaei repeated that position, describing Europe’s conditions as lacking seriousness and goodwill.
“The Europeans are doing what Trump dictated to them,” Baghaei told the Guardian
“Their role is going to be diminished … they have decided to be the proxy of the US and Israel.”
He contrasted today’s approach with earlier European foreign policy chiefs such as Javier Solana, Cathy Ashton, Federica Mogherini and Josep Borrell, whom he said acted as intermediaries between Tehran and Washington.
Britain, France and Germany — the three European signatories to the original nuclear deal — formally notified the UN last week that they intend to restore sanctions by the end of September unless Iran meets a set of conditions.
These include allowing UN inspectors back into sites damaged in Israeli strikes, providing details about its stockpile of highly enriched uranium and agreeing to open direct talks with the United States on the future of its nuclear program.
European governments have emphasized that there is still a four-week window for diplomacy before sanctions return, but Baghaei dismissed their conditions as insincere and “a sign they are not serious and they do not have good faith.”
Criticism of Europe and Israel
Baghaei also criticized European governments for tacitly supporting Israel’s June strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, pointing to German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s comment that Israel was doing “the dirty work … for all of us.” He claimed European countries likely provided intelligence to Israel to carry out the attacks.
The Iranian spokesperson further warned that parliament, not the government, holds constitutional authority over Iran’s membership in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
With lawmakers preparing to vote on a bill to mandate Tehran's withdrawal from the treaty if sanctions are reimposed, Baghaei said the government would not be able to block it.
Such a move would end UN oversight of Iran’s nuclear program and could ramp up concerns in the West about whether Iran intends to pursue nuclear weapons.
Despite the growing tensions, Baghaei insisted Iran remains open to compromise.
Iran, he said, had assured the IAEA that enriched uranium stockpiles had not been moved and suggested Tehran would be willing to return to the 3.67 percent enrichment cap set by the 2015 nuclear deal provided its right to enrich uranium domestically was preserved.
