Wang and Mohammad Javad Zarif also reaffirmed their commitment to Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, a rebuke of the United States for abandoning the accord during their Saturday meeting in China’s southwestern Tengchong city.

“Safeguarding the nuclear agreement means safeguarding the achievements of multilateralism,” said Wang, adding that China “opposes any unilateral acts that undermine” the deal and will continue to promote its implementation.

He also voiced China’s opposition to “unilateral bullying” in an implied criticism of the US.

Iran has been at odds with Saudi Arabia, the other major Middle Eastern power, over the kingdom’s invasion of Yemen, Saudi support for America’s sanctions on the Islamic Republic, and Iran’s influence in the region.

“China proposes to build a regional multilateral dialogue platform with equal participation of all stakeholders,” said the Chinese foreign minister.

The forum would “enhance mutual understanding through dialogue and explore political and diplomatic solutions to security issues in the Middle East”, he added.

Wang noted that support for the nuclear deal, from which US President Donald Trump withdrew in 2018, would be a precondition of entry to the forum.

He also expressed China’s willingness to strengthen ties with Iran, expand cooperation in various fields such as the coronavirus pandemic.

Zarif said on Twitter his “fruitful talks” with Wang amounted to a rejection of “US unilateralism” and had also focused on strategic ties and collaboration on the development of a coronavirus vaccine.

Both sides “rejected US unilateralism and US attempts to create unipolar world”, Zarif wrote on his Twitter account.

China enjoys friendly ties with Iran and remains a party to the 2015 nuclear agreement, from which the US withdrew in 2018 and subsequently targeted the Iranian nation with the “toughest ever” economic sanctions.

Iran and China are working to finalize a 25-year Sino-Iranian Comprehensive Strategic Partnership agreement, which was announced in a joint statement during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Tehran in 2016.

The cooperation roadmap consists of 20 articles, covering Tehran-Beijing ties in “political,” “executive cooperation,” “human and cultural,” “judiciary, security and defense,” and “regional and international” domains, according to the statement released back then.

To America’s dismay, the deal is crafted to help the two sides ditch dollar in bilateral trade and bypass the American sanctions.

AFP and Press TV contributed to this story.