China’s Xi Backs Stronger Mutual Ties

Chinese President Xi Jinping threw his weight behind efforts to build stronger relations between Tehran and Beijing. 
“China is seeking to develop strategic wide-ranging relations with Iran,” he also said in a meeting with Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani in the Chinese capital on Wednesday, IRNA reported. 
The Majlis speaker pointed to “historical” and “friendly” relations between the two sides and described Beijing as “a reliable partner” for Tehran. 
Earlier in the day, Larijani held talks with members of Iran-China Parliamentary Friendship Group.
In the meeting, the Majlis speaker hailed the long-lasting bonds between the two nations and stressed that “no country can undermine Iran-China relations”.
Larijani, who was in China on a two-day visit, also addressed students and professors at Renmin University in Beijing on Tuesday, in which he said US unilateral policies, including the imposition of sanctions and tariffs on other countries, are futile, stressing that the global community will not come to terms with such a hostile approach. 
The Iranian speaker said the US has adopted a hostile approach toward other countries in various economic forms such as imposing unilateral and illegal sanctions or slapping tariffs on countries’ exports to weaken the nations, including the people of China and Iran, but it will not achieve its objectives.

Unbridled Unilateralism

“[US] unbridled unilateralism is not acceptable to nations, particularly toward such great civilizations as China and Iran, and they will never give in to it,” Larijani stressed.  
Iran and China have been the target of financial pressure tactics under US President Donald Trump.
Trump withdrew the US from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal last May and reinstated tough sanctions against Tehran.
Along with other parties to the deal, China has defended the nuclear deal and vowed to adopt compensatory measures to keep the accord afloat. 
Washington has also been engaged in economic tensions with Beijing in recent months, raising the prospect of an all-out trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
The frictions heightened last year when the Trump administration levied tariffs on $250 billion worth of Chinese goods, while Beijing retaliated with its own duties on $110 billion worth of US goods.
In his speech to academics, Larijani also stressed that Iran expects the remaining parties to the Iran deal to fulfill their obligations under the nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
“Although the signatories of JCPOA have rejected the illegal US request [to quit the deal] and tried to salvage it, we expect them to [take more effective steps to] protect the agreement, honor multilateralism and meet their commitments,” he said.