Overview

• Since President Trump’s June 22 airstrikes on Iranian nuclear sites, Beijing has limited its response to rhetorical condemnation without deploying military or substantive mediation efforts.
• Foreign Minister Wang Yi has twice urged an immediate ceasefire and reinforced support for IAEA safeguards in late June to curb further regional escalation.
• China’s primary concern remains uninterrupted oil imports and Belt and Road Initiative projects, particularly through the Strait of Hormuz.
• U.S. and Israeli wariness of Beijing’s Iran ties, coupled with China’s lack of military assets in the region, have exposed its constrained leverage as a mediator.
• Beijing’s strategy balances a genuine desire to prevent a wider Middle East war with the recognition that U.S. entanglement may ease American pressure on China in East Asia.