Can China broker peace for Iran again? 2023 was different, analysts say

2026.03.20 04:20 Mourners hold posters of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s late supreme leader, as they take part in a funeral procession for other war dead, in Tehran on Wednesday. Photo: EPA As Tehran signalled that Beijing could serve as a diplomatic broker in its intensifying war with the United States and Israel, analysts cautioned that the Saudi-Iranian rapprochement of 2023 could prove “hard to replicate”. They also highlighted the difficulty of Washington accepting third-party mediation, after US President Donald Trump confirmed that a planned meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing would be delayed by “five or six weeks” because of the armed conflict. Beijing has already engaged in high-level diplomacy and sent its special Middle East envoy to the region to try and de-escalate tensions in the third week of the war. In an interview with Al Jazeera on Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said “several countries, including China, can act as mediators”, adding that Tehran was ready to consider proposals to end the conflict. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaks at a news conference in Tehran on Monday. Photo: Xinhua Araghchi pointed to China’s role in restoring diplomatic ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia in 2023, noting that both sides had respected the agreement reached in Beijing. The development was widely seen as reflecting China’s growing influence in the region. Araghchi said Iran was ready to listen to proposals from mediating countries to end the conflict, provided they met Tehran’s requirements and conditions. The American-Israeli strikes on Iran that began on February 28 have killed a number of senior Iranian officials, including the former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In retaliation, Iran’s missile strikes targeting Gulf countries aligned with the US have significantly affected the global energy chain, especially with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 20 per cent of the world’s o

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