China's Xi and Iran's Raisi meet for first time at summit
Iran's President Ebrahim Raisi told his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that his country will not give in to "US bullying" in their first ever face-to-face meeting.
"The Islamic republic of Iran will not back down in any way in the face of US bullying," Raisi said according to a presidency statement, referring to Washington's sanctions on Tehran, mostly for its nuclear program.
The meeting, on the sidelines of a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Uzbekistan, comes days after the European Union warned that negotiations to revive the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers are at a "stalemate".
China is one of the key members of the multilateral dialogue -- alongside France, Germany, Britain, Russia and the United States -- that is trying to revive the troubled 2015 nuclear deal.
"Despite all the enmities, the Islamic republic of Iran has never been stopped and will never be, and has been able to continue its path of progress and development," Raisi added.
The Iranian president also called for strengthening economic relations with China in the fields of "oil and energy, transit, agriculture, trade and investment."
Raisi also thanked China for supporting Iran's bid to gain full membership in the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
During his speech at the summit, Raisi said that "undoubtedly, US unilateralism seeks to hold countries back from their independent development path".
