Iran presses for bigger Chinese role in US talks
No US-Iran meeting is currently scheduled, though mediators are working to arrange one.
Published
Iran wants China to take a more prominent role in any negotiations with the United States, as talks between Washington and Tehran remain in early stages.
Mediators are working to set up a high-level meeting between the two countries, but the effort is still preliminary. No meeting is currently scheduled. Any session that does happen could involve Trump's top advisers rather than Trump himself.
The push comes against a tense backdrop. Iran's Revolutionary Guard says it struck vessels in the Strait of Hormuz, and Gulf capitals are pressing Trump to hold back from escalating with Iran. Trump has said he is open to talks with Iranian officials "under right conditions," and has urged Iran to make a deal. Iran has conditioned any settlement on the lifting of the US military blockade. Trump has said the two sides will reach a deal "one way or the other," that Iran will never have a nuclear weapon, and that oil prices will fall once the conflict ends, adding that oil is currently flowing at peak levels.
Iran's request for a bigger Chinese presence is unlikely to change much in the near term. Trump has already signaled a willingness to negotiate while keeping a hawkish posture, and mediators are pursuing US-Iran talks regardless of who sits at the table. Adding China would complicate discussions that are already unsettled, but it does not alter the administration's stated openness to a deal or its reliance on sanctions pressure.