The initiative was announced by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi during a high-level meeting in Beijing on Friday, where he met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov and Kazem Gharibabadi, an Iranian deputy foreign minister.
The proposal emphasizes resolving the disputes through peaceful, political, and diplomatic means, explicitly rejecting the use of coercion and unlawful coercive economic measures that the US and its allies have been indulging in.
It urges all parties to uphold "common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security" while working to create conditions for resumption of dialogue and negotiation involving all the concerned sides.
‘Balance in rights, responsibilities’
Among its key points, the plan stresses the need to balance rights and responsibilities, affirming Iran's right to pursue peaceful nuclear energy as a signatory of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation (NPT).
China also calls for renewed commitment to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a 2015 nuclear agreement between the Islamic Republic and world countries, including the US, China, and Russia -- which was left by Washington in 2018 -- as the foundation for new consensus.
In the same context, Beijing urges the United States to demonstrate "political sincerity" by returning to negotiations without preconditions.
Additionally, the Chinese foreign minister warned against any hasty intervention by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), cautioning that initiating the so-called “snapback mechanism” -- whose application restores all of the UN’s sanctions against Iran -- "could undo years of diplomatic progress."
Instead, he calls for a step-by-step, reciprocal approach where all sides engage in constructive dialogue and seek mutually acceptable solutions through consultation.
The proposal came amid Western sanctions against Iran, threats of military action, and threats of initiating the “snapback.”
The West tries to justify the drive, which observers denounce as headstrong and irresponsible, by accusing Tehran of diverting its nuclear work towards “military purposes” and alleging lack of proper cooperation between the country and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s nuclear agency.
The campaign comes while Iran remains the most verified Member State of the IAEA, having been subject to the agency’s most comprehensive and frequent verification processes over decades.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei – through a relevant fatwa (religious decree) – has banned pursuance, acquisition, and storage of non-conventional weapons by the Islamic Republic that remains a signatory to the NPT at the same time.
Beijing’s proposal came as part of its push for de-escalation and facilitation of negotiations to maintain regional and global stability.
It, meanwhile, chimed in with Russia’s stiff opposition of restoration of the UN’s anti-Iran sanctions.
Earlier this month, Russia's Permanent Representative to International Organizations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov had likewise condemned an effort on the part of the UK, France, and Germany -- the US’s allies in the JCPOA -- to activate the “snapback.”
Ulyanov had reminded that with their violations of the JCPOA, the trio had lost any right to invoke the deal's mechanisms, including the snapback provision. "We recommend that Berlin, London, and Paris abandon their illusions about the snapback and instead focus on finding a political and diplomatic way out of the situation they have created," the official had said.
Russia has also expressed strong opposition to Washington’s "maximum pressure" strategy concerning Iran, under which it has returned and even intensified the sanctions and left the nuclear deal.
Moscow has argued that the American attitude undermined regional stability and diplomatic efforts, reminding that Tehran remained in compliance with its obligations under the NPT and that any alleged concerns had to be addressed through dialogue rather than forceful measures.