TEHRAN - Kazem Gharib Abadi, Iran’s representative to the Vienna-based international organizations, and Ambassador Wang Qun, China’s permanent representative to the UN (Vienna), held a meeting on Friday discussing expansion of relations.

Gharib Abadi praised Iran-China ties as “progressive” and “constructive” and called for expanding cooperation in various areas.

Ambassador Gharib Abadi said Tehran attaches great importance to China’s role in countering U.S. “illegal” and “unilateral” sanctions against Iran.

Elsewhere, he said now that the United States has withdrawn from the 2015 multilateral nuclear deal it is necessary to find mechanisms that Iran enjoy the benefits of the agreement and the remaining parties abide by their obligations.

For his part, Wang said that Beijing is determined to preserve the nuclear deal.

U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew Washington from the nuclear deal in May and reintroduced sanctions on Iran in August. The second wave of sanctions, which targets Iran’s oil exports and central bank, is due to start in early November.

On September 25, European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini announced that the bloc was creating a new payment mechanism to allow countries to transact with Iran while avoiding U.S. sanctions. 

Called the “special purpose vehicle” (SPV), this mechanism would aim to “assist and reassure economic operators pursuing legitimate business with Iran,” according to a joint statement released by the remaining members of the nuclear deal — France, Britain, Germany, Russia and China.

“This will mean that EU member states will set up a legal entity to facilitate legitimate financial transactions with Iran and this will allow European companies to continue to trade with Iran in accordance with European Union law and could be open to other partners in the world,” Mogherini told the UN General Assembly.

NA/PA