China’s top diplomat has said that a “glimmer of hope” for peace has emerged due to moves to stop the war in the Middle East, despite Tehran vowing to keep fighting.
China’s foreign minister Wang Yi urged dialogue in separate calls with his Turkish and Egyptian counterparts, suggesting that both Tehran and Washington had shown signals they were willing to return to the negotiating table.
“With both the United States and Iran signaling a willingness to negotiate, a glimmer of hope for peace has emerged,” Wang told Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty, according to a Beijing readout published late Wednesday.
Wang told Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan during the call that the rights and wrongs of the conflict in the Middle East are “crystal clear,” offering support to the country in helping to facilitate the resumption of negotiations.
Turkey has engaged in “intense” diplomatic efforts to end the war by talking to both Washington and Tehran, Fidan said in March.
“Prolonging this war would only result in further casualties and needless losses, leading to a further spillover of the conflict,” Wang said.
This is just as U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran was desperate to make a deal to end nearly four weeks of fighting, contradicting the Iranian Foreign Minister who said his country was reviewing a U.S. proposal but had no intention of holding talks to wind down the conflict.
The conflicting statements came as the economic and humanitarian toll of the war mounted, with fuel shortages spreading worldwide, sending companies and countries scrambling to contain the fallout.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said while there had been no dialogue or negotiation with the US, various messages had been exchanged through intermediaries.
Araghchi said that “so far, no negotiations have taken place, and I believe our position is completely principled. Speaking of negotiations now is an admission of defeat.
“Messages being conveyed through our friendly countries and us responding by stating our positions or issuing the necessary warnings is not called negotiation or dialogue,” Araqchi said in a state television interview on Wednesday.
Trump, speaking later on Wednesday at an event in Washington, said Iranian leaders “are negotiating, by the way, and they want to make a deal so badly, but they’re afraid to say it because they will be killed by their own people. They’re also afraid they’ll be killed by us.” Trump has not identified who the US is negotiating with in Iran, with many high-ranking officials among the thousands of people that killed across the Middle East since the US and Israel attacked Iran on February 28. Iran has since launched strikes against Israel, US bases and Gulf states.
Written with additional reports from Arab News, Alarabiya
