Wang speaks with Araghchi, urges all sides to seize ‘every opportunity for peace’
China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi attends a meeting of foreign ministers of the BRICS group of nations in the city of Nizhny Novgorod, Russia June 10, 2024. PHOTO:REUTERS
BEIJING/WASHINGTON:
Diplomatic efforts intensified on Tuesday as major global and regional players pushed for an urgent return to negotiations amid the escalating war between the United States, Israel and Iran, which has drawn in multiple countries across the Middle East.
China led renewed calls for de-escalation after Foreign Minister Wang Yi held a phone call with his Iranian counterpart Abbas Araghchi, urging all parties to seize “every opportunity and window for peace” and begin talks as soon as possible.
According to China’s Foreign Ministry, Wang told Araghchi that “talking is always better than fighting” and stressed that “all hotspot issues should be resolved through dialogue and negotiation, not by using force.”
The call, held at Iran’s request, underscored Beijing’s continued push for diplomacy, with Wang reiterating that peace talks should begin “as quickly as possible”. Araghchi, in response, reaffirmed that Iran seeks a comprehensive end to the conflict rather than a temporary ceasefire.
Araghchi also thanked China for humanitarian assistance. He stressed that vessels could pass through the Strait of Hormuz, except those belonging to “countries currently engaging in conflict” with Iran.
Parallel diplomatic efforts were also reported across the region and beyond. Egypt’s Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty held discussions with US envoy Steve Witkoff on “potential negotiations” between Washington and Tehran.
Abdelatty also spoke with counterparts from Turkey, Pakistan, Oman, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), France and Cyprus, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry stated. Officials described the diplomatic path as the only way to avert comprehensive chaos in the region.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also warned that Israel’s “uncompromising, maximalist, radical stance” risked undermining diplomacy and insisted the war must end through serious negotiations.
The flurry of diplomatic activity came a day after US President Donald Trump delayed attacks on Iran’s energy infrastructure following substantial negotiations. US media reported that the back-channel negotiations involved Pakistan, Turkiye and Egypt.
In Washington on Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt cautioned that speculation about talks should not be treated as final until formally announced, saying the US would not negotiate through the press.
Trump, meanwhile, told reporters in the Oval Office that his administration was speaking with the “right people” in Iran and claimed Tehran was eager to reach a deal, though Iran has repeatedly denied that any negotiations are taking place.
Despite conflicting narratives, Trump maintained that there were ongoing discussions, saying “we’re actually talking to the right people and they want to make a deal so badly,” while also suggesting Iran’s leadership structure was fractured.
Expressing optimism that a deal is in sight, he said Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and others are leading the negotiations. “We’re in negotiations right now. They’re doing it, along with Marco, JD, with a number of people doing it.”
Speaking about the negotiations points, he said suggested that Iran’s nuclear programme was the top agenda. “They can’t have a nuclear weapon, and they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon. I don’t want to say in advance, but they’ve agreed they will never have a nuclear weapon.”
Iran, however, firmly rejected claims of talks, with its parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf accusing Washington of attempting to manipulate financial and oil markets, which have come under heavy pressure since the US-Israeli attacks on Iran began on February 28.
Since then, Iran has also launched retaliatory attacks on countries hosting US bases, struck Gulf infrastructure and effectively disrupted movement through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical route for around a fifth of global crude and liquefied natural gas shipments.
While diplomatic exchanges continued, so did the conflict on the ground, with intensified strikes across Iran, Israel and several regional states, as Iran reportedly carried out missile and drone strikes across the Gulf region.
Bahrain and UAE authorities confirmed that an attack resulted in the killing of a Moroccan civilian contractor with the UAE armed forces in Bahrain, along with injuries to five defence personnel. Bahrain said the contractor was killed while responding to Iranian attacks.
The conflict has also disrupted infrastructure beyond the battlefield. Amazon Web Services reported that its data centre operations in Bahrain were affected by drone activity, marking the second disruption to its Middle East cloud services since the conflict began.
In Iraq, US-Israeli airstrikes hit a military headquarters of an Iran-backed umbrella group in western Iraq, killing at least 15 people. Meanwhile, a missile strike, blamed on Iran, on a Peshmerga base in Irbil killed six people and injured around 30 others.
Israel reported multiple waves of incoming missiles from Iran, with emergency services confirming at least three injuries in southern Israel, including a moderate case involving a 40-year-old man and minor injuries to a woman and infant.
Israeli authorities also reported repeated missile waves throughout the day, with sirens sounding in both northern and southern regions, and damage recorded to residential structures in Bedouin communities lacking bomb shelters.
In Tel Aviv, police confirmed that damage to central areas was caused by an Iranian warhead carrying approximately 100 kilograms of explosives, which damaged homes and vehicles but did not result in serious injuries.
Iran has declared that its armed forces would continue fighting “until complete victory,” signalling no immediate intention to scale back operations. A senior Iranian military commander said the country’s forces remained “proud, victorious and steadfast”.
Iran, meanwhile, named a former Revolutionary Guard commander, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr, as the new secretary of the country’s Supreme National Security Council, replacing Ali Larijani, who was assassinated in an airstrike.
At the same time, Iran has reportedly expanded control measures around maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz, introducing a “pay-to-pass” corridor between Larak and Qeshm islands. A Chinese-owned cargo vessel was the first to pass through the corridor.
As the war continues across multiple fronts, the toll has risen dramatically, with reports indicating more than 1,500 deaths in Iran, over 1,000 in Lebanon, 16 in Israel and 13 US military personnel.
