China today said it regrets US President Donald Trump's decision to pull out of an international nuclear deal with Iran, and asked all parties to act in a responsible manner to promote global peace.
The US President's move to abandon the landmark agreement has shocked the world, with America's closest allies like France, Germany and the UK expressing concern over it while Iran's foes Israel and Saudi Arabia welcoming the move.
"The deal was conducive to maintaining the international nuclear non-proliferation regime, promoting peace and stability in the Middle East and demonstrating the significance of solving hot issues through political means," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters here.
The deal was negotiated and agreed to by Iran and the P5+1 (the US, UK, France, China, Russia, Germany) and the EU, granting Tehran sanctions relief and returning frozen assets in exchange for restrictions on its nuclear programme and international inspections.
Asserting that the multi-lateral agreement was struck between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, Germany and the EU, and adopted by a UNSC resolution in 2015, the spokesperson said "all parties should seriously implement it and maintain the integrity and seriousness of the deal".
Geng said that under the current situation, China urges all parties to proceed in the long-term and overall situation in a responsible manner, persist in solving and managing differences through political and diplomatic means, and return as soon as possible to the correct track of continuing to implement the comprehensive agreement.
"China will take an objective, fair and responsible attitude, maintain dialogues and consultations with all parties, and continue to work to maintain and implement the comprehensive agreement," he said.
The spokesperson also said that China will maintain "normal economic and trade exchanges" with Iran despite Trump's decision to withdraw from the 2015 accord and reimpose sanctions on Tehran.
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