Iran’s foreign minister heads to China as U.S. urges Beijing to help open Strait of Hormuz
Iran’s foreign minister will arrive in China on Wednesday, a visit that comes as Washington steps up pressure on Beijing to help open the Strait of Hormuz ahead of U.S. President Donald Trump’s planned summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping next week. China’s Foreign Ministry said Tuesday that Foreign Minister Wang Yi will meet with Araghchi during the trip.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement posted on Telegram that the two ministers will discuss regional and international developments. The pair have spoken at least three times by phone since hostilities between the United States, Israel and Iran erupted on Feb.
28; in their most recent call on April 15, Wang said China “stands ready to continue to facilitate de-escalation.” U.S. officials are urging Beijing to take a more active role. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told Fox News on Monday that China should “step up” efforts to pressure Iran to reopen the waterway.
“Let’s see them step up with some diplomacy and get the Iranians to open the strait,” he said, adding, “The attacks from Iran have closed the strait. We are reopening it. So I would urge the Chinese to join us in supporting this international operation.” Iranian attacks in the strait brought traffic to a near halt.
The United States later imposed a blockade on Iranian ports and ships in the waterway. On Sunday, Trump announced a new U.S. military operation to guide international commercial vessels out of the strait “so that they can freely and ably get on with their business.” U.S.
Central Command said Monday that the U.S. Navy had deployed at least two guided-missile destroyers to the Gulf ahead of the operation. The diplomacy is unfolding against an energy backdrop that binds Beijing and Tehran. China is Iran’s largest buyer of oil, a relationship that has helped sustain Iranian exports despite U.S.
sanctions. Much of Iran’s crude moves via a “shadow fleet” of vessels that obscure origins and destinations before being refined in China by small private processors known as teapot refineries. Over the weekend, China’s Ministry of Commerce ordered domestic companies not to comply with U.S.
sanctions targeting five Chinese oil refiners linked to Iranian crude imports, invoking a rarely used 2021 legal mechanism designed to counter what Beijing considers unjustified extraterritorial application of foreign laws. On Friday, the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on exchange houses it said facilitate billions of dollars in annual foreign currency transactions for Iran.
Iran largely conducts its oil trade in Chinese yuan. Trump is expected in Beijing on May 14–15 for talks with Xi. Araghchi’s visit will unfold as China weighs longstanding energy ties with Iran and mounting U.S. calls for Beijing to support de-escalation around the strait.