China Meets Iran as U.S. Presses Beijing Over Strait of Hormuz

China’s top diplomat met Iran’s foreign minister in Beijing on May 6, putting Beijing’s regional balancing act under immediate scrutiny as the Strait of Hormuz remained the hinge point for global energy flows. Abbas Araghchi’s visit was widely described as his first trip to China since the war began, a signal that Tehran was leaning on one of its most important strategic partners while the waterway stayed under intense pressure.

The United States used the moment to push China directly. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged Beijing to use its close ties with Tehran to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz to international traffic, arguing that the passage matters well beyond the region. The narrow sea lane links the Persian Gulf to world markets and carries a huge share of seaborne energy trade, so even the threat of disruption can ripple through oil and shipping prices far from the Gulf.

The Beijing meeting also carried a wider diplomatic backdrop. It came just days before Donald Trump was scheduled to travel to Beijing for talks with Xi Jinping, layering the Iran crisis onto an already sensitive U.S.-China agenda. The Chinese Foreign Ministry had confirmed that Araghchi would meet Wang Yi on May 6, but it gave no detailed account of the talks before they took place.

Beijing had already been pressing Tehran on the same issue. On April 16, Wang called Araghchi and sought guarantees of freedom and safety for international navigation through the Strait of Hormuz, showing that China had not waited for Washington’s public pressure to signal concern about maritime access. That earlier call underscored how central uninterrupted shipping through the corridor is to Beijing’s economic interests, especially if higher energy costs or supply shocks begin to threaten growth and industrial stability.

The timing made the stakes sharper still. Trump had paused the U.S. effort to guide stranded vessels out of the strait while negotiations continued, a move that reflected how diplomacy, military risk and energy security were converging around the same waterway. For China, the test was not only whether it could preserve its partnership with Iran, but whether its promises about regional stability would translate into real pressure when the world’s oil lifeline was on edge.