The Iranian Presidency said today, Wednesday, that President Ebrahim Raisi phoned his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, clarifying that "strengthening relations with China is a priority of my administration's foreign policy."

Raisi stressed that "Tehran is ready to cooperate with China to enforce security and stability in Afghanistan," stressing the importance of "speeding up the delivery of vaccines Iran purchased from China."

On his part, Chinese President Xi Jinping said that "China will try its best to deliver the Covid-19 vaccines," and that "it is ready to strengthen relations with Tehran under the One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative." 

Jinping added that the US "withdrawal from the nuclear deal is the main reason behind the current JCPOA crisis."

In a phone call with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, the Iranian President confirmed that strengthening relations with Russia is one of his foreign policy's priorities.

Raisi clarified that Tehran is determined to fulfill the comprehensive cooperation agreement between Iran and Russia as fast as possible and that it seeks to strengthen relations between the two countries and to open new pathways to double the volume of its trade with Russia.

He also thanked Russia for its cooperation with Iran in the fight against the Coronavirus, and on the joint production of vaccines.

A few days ago, the Iranian President had phoned the presidents and prime ministers of a number of countries and received several calls in turn, the last of which was yesterday, by Iraqi PM Mustafa Al-Kadhimi.

Two days ago, the Chinese and Iranian presidents exchanged congratulatory letters on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Chinese-Iranian diplomatic relations.

Raisi said his country is "ready to continue to raise the level of strategic cooperation" with China.