BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 14. Iran has always viewed China’s responsible and principled stance on issues related to regional security in a positive light.
This was announced in a statement published by the Iranian MFA, citing spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei's remarks at a press conference in Tehran on September 14.
“China has played a major constructive role at various times in promoting stability and security in the region. Iran has also always expressed its readiness to cooperate with China in this area,” he noted.
Baghaei stated that Iran believes China openly expresses its principled stance at every opportunity, and this is of great significance. According to him, China’s principled stance was also clearly articulated at the BRICS summit. However, this by no means implies the emergence of a new player as a mediator between Iran and the U.S. Pakistan is successfully fulfilling its role.
“Overall, Iran’s problem is not about a mediator. The problem between Iran and the U.S. has never been about a mediator. The issue lies in the U.S. side’s lack of even a minimum of goodwill to use diplomacy to resolve problems. Therefore, as long as the U.S. maintains this strategy, even if a mediator is brought in, it will, to some extent, damage the image of those mediators as well,” he noted.
Meanwhile, on July 8, U.S. President Donald Trump announced a breach of the ceasefire and ordered new strikes against Iran. In response, Iran launched missile and drone strikes against U.S. military targets in the Persian Gulf region. Although Washington has not ruled out the possibility of Iran returning to the negotiating table, disagreements over security in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s nuclear program, and other issues leave the future of the peace process uncertain. At present, commercial shipping in the Strait of Hormuz has once again come to a virtual standstill.
