JAKARTA - China's top diplomat on Monday said the international community should take a "firm stance" against actions that undermine the current US-Iranian ceasefire, even as a US blockade of the vital Strait of Hormuz has begun.
"The international community must continue to increase its efforts to promote peace talks and take a firm stance against any actions that undermine the ceasefire or escalate confrontation," Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar in a telephone conversation, Anadolu reported from Global Times (14/4).
Furthermore, Foreign Minister Wang also said, "the main priority is to make every effort to prevent the conflict in the Middle East from rekindling and maintaining the momentum of the ceasefire that has been achieved with great difficulty."
In turn, following talks between Iran and the United States in Pakistan over the weekend, Islamabad reiterated its "unwavering commitment" to advancing dialogue and diplomacy as the preferred way to restore peace in the region, stressing it was "the only viable path forward," according to a statement from the Pakistani Foreign Ministry.
The statement was made as a US blockade of Iranian ports came into effect at 1400 GMT on Monday, according to a British maritime intelligence report.
Previously, after joint diplomatic efforts with Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Egypt, Pakistan on April 8 secured a 14-day ceasefire between Washington and Tehran after weeks of fighting triggered by the US-Israeli attack on February 28.
However, a marathon 16-hour negotiation between the US and Iran held in Pakistan over the weekend ended without a breakthrough.
Iran's nuclear program and the Strait of Hormuz were among the issues discussed during the second meeting of the delegations in the Pakistani capital.
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