China's Top Diplomat Wang Holds Call With Iranian Counterpart

Beijing, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 16th Apr, 2024) China's foreign minister held phone discussions with his Iranian counterpart, Beijing state media said Tuesday, reporting that Iran said it was "willing to exercise restraint" after its first-ever attack on Israel's territory.

Israel has vowed to respond to the unprecedented Iranian missile and drone strikes over the weekend, which have prompted appeals for de-escalation by world leaders fearing wider conflict.

China is a close partner of Iran, its largest trade partner, and a top buyer of its sanctioned oil.

The United States has repeatedly made public appeals for China to use its influence over Tehran to manage tensions in the region, which are currently turbocharged over the Israel-Hamas conflict.

During the call, Hossein Amir-Abdollahian briefed Wang Yi on the April 1 attack on a consular annex of the Iranian embassy in the Syrian capital Damascus, which Tehran says prompted its aerial assault, Beijing's state news agency Xinhua said.

Amir-Abdollahian told Wang that the United Nations Security Council "did not make a necessary response to this attack" and that "Iran has the right to self-defence in response to the violation of its sovereignty", according to a readout.

Amir-Abdollahian said Iran was "willing to exercise restraint" and had no intention of further escalating tensions, adding the current regional situation was "very sensitive".

Wang said China "strongly condemns and firmly opposes the attack" on the Iranian consular annex, Xinhua reported, and regards it as a "serious violation of international law and unacceptable".

The readout said China noted Iran's statement that, in response, it had taken limited action in "self-defence".