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KAZAN: Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to increase ties with Iran during talks with his counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian in Russia, Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported Wednesday.

The meeting between the two on the sidelines of a BRICS summit was their first since Pezeshkian was elected president following the death of his predecessor, Ebrahim Raisi, in a helicopter crash.

Xi pledged that “no matter how the international and regional situation changes, China will unswervingly develop friendly cooperation with Iran,” Xinhua said.

China supports Iran "in safeguarding national sovereignty, security and national dignity, steadily advancing its own economic and social development," Xi said, according to Xinhua.

The pledge echoed similar comments by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi after a meeting last month with Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.

China is a close partner of Iran, its largest trade partner, and a top buyer of its sanctioned oil.

Both countries have faced Western pressure in the form of sanctions, most recently because of their stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.