Chinese Foreign Minister Says Beijing Ready To Boost Ties With Iran

China is ready to develop further cooperation with Iran and condemns the use of unilateral sanctions in international relations, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Saturday during a phone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif.

BEIJING (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th August, 2018) China is ready to develop further cooperation with Iran and condemns the use of unilateral sanctions in international relations, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Saturday during a phone conversation with his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif.

"China attaches a great importance to Chinese-Iranian relations and is ready to continue developing mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Iran," Wang said, as quoted by the Chinese Foreign Ministry, adding that Beijing had opposed the use of unilateral sanctions in international relations.

For his part, Zarif said Iran highly appreciated Chinas role in safeguarding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal. The Iranian minister also expressed readiness to boost coordination with all parties to the accord.

The JCPOA was signed in 2015 by Iran, the European Union and the P5+1 group of countries � China, Germany, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The deal stipulated the gradual lifting of the anti-Iran sanctions in exchange for Tehran maintaining the peaceful nature of its nuclear program.

On May 8, US President Donald Trump announced that his country would exit the agreement. On August 7, Washington re-instated the first package of its sanctions against Iran, previously lifted under the deal. The sanctions target Iran's acquisition of Dollar bank notes, trade in gold and other metals, transactions related to the Iranian rial, as well as other countries' transactions and trade activities with Iran. Another wave of US sanctions on Irans energy sector is expected to be re-imposed in November.

After the US withdrawal, other parties to the agreement have expressed their commitment to the accord.