Iran’s chief negotiator Ghalibaf appointed to oversee ties with China
Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, who recently emerged as a chief negotiator in talks with the United States, has been appointed to oversee relations with China, Iran’s Tesnim news agency reported on Sunday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
“Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has recently been appointed as a special representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran for China affairs,” Tasnim said.
It was not immediately clear who appointed Ghalibaf to the role, but the news agency said he would “coordinate various sectors of relations between Iran and China.”
The report comes after U.S. President Donald Trump wrapped up his visit to China, saying that Chinese President Xi Jinping had agreed Tehran must reopen the Strait of Hormuz, though Beijing gave no indication it would weigh in.
On Friday, Trump said he was considering whether to lift U.S. sanctions on Chinese oil companies buying Iranian oil.
“I’m not asking for any favors because when you ask for favors, you have to do favors in return,” Trump said when asked by a reporter on Air Force One whether Xi had made a firm commitment to put pressure on the Iranians to reopen the strait.
Xi, moreover, did not comment on his discussions with Trump about Iran, although China’s foreign ministry criticized the war, calling it a conflict “which should never have happened, has no reason to continue.”
It is noteworthy that China, the world’s top crude importer, has been the main buyer of oil from OPEC producer Iran in recent years. Data for 2025 from analytics firm Kpler showed that it buys more than 80% of Iranian shipped oil.
