China says unilateral sanctions have no basis in international law

ISTANBUL

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi has said that unilateral sanctions have no basis in international law.

In a phone call with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on Tuesday night, Wang said: “China understands Iran’s legitimate concerns (and) supports Iran in safeguarding its legitimate rights and interests and opposes unilateral sanctions that have no basis in international law.”

The phone call between the top diplomats of China and Iran came after Abdollahian’s trip to Russia where he met Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

According to a statement by China’s Foreign Ministry, Abdollahian briefed Wang on the latest progress of the negotiations on resuming compliance with the 2015-Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal.

“Iran is ready to resume the negotiations as soon as possible to resolve the final outstanding issues through consultation with other parties and strive for a good agreement,” Abdollahian told Wang, thanking Beijing “for its constructive role in the negotiations.”

Wang reiterated that China supports the early conclusion of the agreement on resuming compliance with the JCPOA and “is open to and supportive of efforts conducive to the realization of this goal.”

“In the face of the rapidly evolving international and regional situation, China is ready to strengthen coordination and cooperation with Iran to push for the resolution of the Iranian nuclear issue in a direction conducive to regional peace and stability,” Wang said.

In Moscow, Lavrov said during a joint news conference with Abdollahian that Russia has “got written guarantees under the 2015 Iran nuclear deal that will “protect its cooperation with Iran against the recent US and EU sanctions.”

Russia is under a flurry of sanctions by the US and its allies over its war on Ukraine since Feb. 24.

Beijing has not condemned the war and has pushed back sanctions, terming them “illegal and unilateral.”

China has instead suggested a four-pronged solution to end the war.