Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi in Beijing on Wednesday, their first in-person talks since the U.S.-Israel war on Iran began, focusing on the fragile ceasefire and security in the Strait of Hormuz.
Araghchi’s visit comes just one week before U.S. President Donald Trump is due in Beijing for a summit with President Xi Jinping on 14 and 15 May, casting a long shadow over the meeting and injecting it with rare urgency. Analysts say the timing is no accident.
Two issues dominated the agenda: maintaining the ceasefire reached in April and reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas once passed.
Since the war began on 28 February, Iran has effectively closed the strait, pushing fuel and fertiliser prices sharply higher and prompting fears of a global recession.
The closure has put Beijing in an uncomfortable position. China has been critical of the U.S. naval blockade on Iranian ports, calling it dangerous, but has also grown increasingly critical of Iran’s decision to keep the strait shut.
China, the world’s largest buyer of Gulf oil and gas, has absorbed some of the shock through domestic stockpiles and a diversified energy mix, but the strain is mounting.
In Washington, Secretary of State Marco Rubio called on Beijing to press Iran to release its chokehold on the strait, describing U.S. efforts to reopen it as defensive and aimed at helping thousands of civilian sailors stranded in the Persian Gulf.
“At least 10 sailors have already died as a result,” Rubio said.
So far, the U.S.-guarded corridor has seen only minimal commercial traffic, with hundreds of vessels still bottled up in the region.
For Tehran, the Beijing visit carried its own set of anxieties. Araghchi was reportedly seeking clarity on what Beijing might put on the table when Xi meets Trump, and whether any concessions to Washington could come at Iran’s expense.
On nuclear talks, Araghchi said Iran would do its utmost to protect its legitimate rights and interests, and would only accept a fair and comprehensive agreement.
With Trump touching down in Beijing in just over a week, the stakes could hardly be higher.
How China chooses to balance its partnership with Iran against its fraught but consequential relationship with the United States may well determine whether the region edges towards stability - or a deeper crisis.
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Hamas has confirmed the death of its armed wing chief, Mohammad Odeh, who was killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza City, according to the Israeli military and Gaza health officials.
Spanish police visited the headquarters of the ruling Socialist Party (PSOE) in Madrid on Wednesday as part of a widening High Court investigation into alleged attempts to interfere with judicial proceedings involving party and government figures.
Tajikistan is hosting the Fourth International Conference on the International Decade for Action “Water for Sustainable Development” from 25 to 28 May in Dushanbe, bringing together thousands of participants from governments, international organisations and financial institutions.
Canada and the Bahamas announced on Tuesday that they will temporarily restrict entry for residents of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda and South Sudan following an Ebola outbreak in the region.
Start your day informed with the AnewZ Morning Brief. Here are the top stories for 26 May, covering the latest developments you need to know.
Iran has called Monday's U.S. strikes on it 'a gross violation' of their ceasefire. The U.S. military said it carried out defensive strikes in southern Iran after boats were seen laying mines in the Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, the U.S. says a peace deal may require several more days.
Shortly after nine o’clock on Tuesday morning (26 May), a sleek white train eased into Tbilisi’s central railway station, a couple of minutes behind schedule, carrying passengers from Baku for the first time since 2020.
The new AnewZ documentary, TARGET: Yerevan, builds its explosive case on exclusive, secret recordings originally published by Minval Politika.
Dozens of people were killed in Israeli strikes on Lebanon on Tuesday, Lebanese officials said, straining a fragile ceasefire agreed between the countries in April. The attacks came as Iran accused the U.S. of violating a separate ceasefire with strikes near the Strait of Hormuz.
Spanish police visited the headquarters of the ruling Socialist Party (PSOE) in Madrid on Wednesday as part of a widening High Court investigation into alleged attempts to interfere with judicial proceedings involving party and government figures.
Latvia is strengthening its anti-drone capabilities along its borders with Russia and Moscow-allied Belarus after several drones entered the NATO member’s airspace, according to a senior military official.
NASA has revealed the next phase of its plan to build a permanent base on the Moon, outlining the vehicles, robotic landers and hopping drones it intends to send as part of the project.
Britain and Poland are set to sign a new defence and security treaty on Wednesday (27 May), deepening cooperation between the two NATO allies as European governments respond to what they describe as a growing range of hostile threats across the continent.
Chinese investigators have uncovered hidden tunnels, missing worker trackers and fake underground walls during an initial investigation into the country’s deadliest mining disaster in more than 15 years.
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