TEHRAN – Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping said in a joint statement after they met in Beijing that the two superpowers support the Iran nuclear deal against U.S. withdrawal.

“Russia and China will exert maximum efforts to preserve the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran's nuclear program, and consider that it is important to protect trade cooperation with Tehran from unilateral sanctions,” the joint statement said on Friday, according to SputnikNews.

“In the context of a disappointing, unilateral withdrawal of the United States from the arrangements documented in the JCPOA, [we will] do utmost to preserve the JCPOA taking into account the crucial importance to protect the interests of trade and economic cooperation of all states with Iran from unilateral and extraterritorial sanctions," the joint statement further said.

The statement follows a decision in early May by Trump to pull the U.S. out of the multilateral Iran nuclear deal.

Trump also decided to restore wide-ranging sanctions on Iran, including the secondary sanctions against financial institutions of third countries doing business with Tehran.

SP/PA