Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will hold talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing on Wednesday, China’s Foreign Ministry announced, placing Tehran’s top diplomat in the Chinese capital roughly a week before President Donald Trump arrives for his own summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The visit comes at a delicate moment in U.S.-Iran negotiations to convert a fragile ceasefire into a durable peace, as Washington presses Beijing to pressure Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
The Chinese announcement said Araghchi was traveling “upon invitation” and that Wang would hold talks with him on May 6. Iran’s Foreign Ministry separately said on Telegram that the two would discuss bilateral ties and “regional and international developments,” without disclosing the length of the trip.
Bloomberg reported it is Araghchi’s first visit to China since U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran on Feb. 28 ignited the current war.
The trip caps a stretch of diplomacy by Araghchi through Oman, Pakistan, and Russia as Tehran tries to shape the terms of any settlement.
Wang and Araghchi have spoken at least three times by phone since the war began, most recently on April 15, when Wang said China was ready to help with de-escalation, Al-Monitor reported.
The Chinese stop is consequential because of what follows it.
The White House confirmed in March that Trump will travel to Beijing on May 14 and 15 for a summit with Xi, his first trip to China since 2017, and a meeting originally scheduled for late March, which was delayed by the Iran war.
U.S. officials have said Iran will be high on the agenda.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has led preliminary U.S. talks with Beijing ahead of the summit, told Fox News on Monday that China should “step up with some diplomacy” to push Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
He said China was buying 90% of Iran’s energy and was “funding the largest state sponsor of terrorism,” and he called on Beijing to join a U.S.-led operation to escort commercial ships through the waterway.
That operation, dubbed Project Freedom, was announced by Trump on Sunday.
Iran has moved to choke commercial transit through the strait, while Washington has imposed a blockade on Iranian ports.
China has called for unimpeded passage through Hormuz but has continued to buy sanctioned Iranian crude.
On May 2, Beijing’s Commerce Ministry ordered Chinese firms, including Hengli Petrochemical, not to comply with recent U.S. sanctions targeting Chinese refiners that purchase Iranian oil.
Breitbart, citing Iran International, reported last week that Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has questioned Araghchi’s loyalties; however, that account could not be independently confirmed.
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