Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi ​met China’s top diplomat in Beijing on Wednesday, underscoring close ties between the two countries shortly before ‌US President Donald Trump is scheduled to travel to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Araqchi’s visit, announced by state news agency Xinhua, is his first trip to China since the US-Israeli war on Iran set off the most severe global oil supply shock in history and undermined the energy security ​of China, the world’s top crude importer.

Earlier this week, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged China to intensify its ​diplomatic efforts to persuade Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping.

Bessent said Trump ⁠and Xi would exchange views on Iran in person during their May 14 to 15 talks in Beijing.

But he ​emphasised the two will seek to keep the steady US-China relationship on track following a trade truce in October.

He urged China to “join ​us in this international operation” to open the strait, but did not specify what actions Beijing should take.

He added that China and Russia should stop blocking initiatives at the United Nations, including a resolution encouraging steps to protect commercial shipping in the strait.

Earlier this week, the ​US and Iran launched new attacks in the Gulf as they wrestled for control over the strait with duelling maritime blockades, threatening ​what was already a fragile truce.

Trump later said the US navy would help ships pass through the strait.

But that operation was paused ‌after Trump ⁠on Tuesday said there had been “great progress” made toward a comprehensive agreement with Iran.

There was no immediate reaction from Tehran.

The Iranian foreign minister on Monday said the attacks, taking place after he said Tehran was looking into Trump’s request for negotiations, showed there was no military solution to the crisis.

China has engaged in a flurry of diplomatic activity and refrained from forceful criticism of the ​US’s conduct of the war ​so that the summit, ⁠already postponed once by the conflict, can go smoothly, analysts have told Reuters.

China has repeatedly urged the US and Iran to maintain the ceasefire and lift the restrictions in the Strait.

Trump has ​also credited Beijing with helping to get Iran to attend last month’s peace talks in ​Pakistan.

Last week, China ⁠escalated its opposition to US sanctions against Chinese oil refineries over purchases of Iranian crude.

The Ministry of Commerce ordered companies not to comply with US sanctions against five independent refiners, including the recently designated Hengli Petrochemical, invoking for the first time a law that ⁠allows ​Beijing to retaliate against entities enforcing sanctions that it deems unlawful.

China buys more ​than 80% of Iran’s shipped oil, data for 2025 from analytics firm Kpler showed.

Iranian oil has had limited buyers due to US sanctions that are aimed ​at cutting off funding to Tehran’s nuclear programme.