China has said it will convene talks with Russia and Iran as the United States increases pressure on Tehran to agree to a new deal on its nuclear programme.

Beijing announced on Wednesday that it would host officials from Russia and Iran to discuss the issue later this week. The meeting will follow a closed-door session of the United Nations Security Council called by Western nations.

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The increased focus on Iran’s nuclear programme comes amid renewed pressure from the US to push Tehran to agree to a deal that would prevent it from taking any steps towards acquiring nuclear weapons.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the trilateral meeting on the “nuclear issue” would be held in Beijing on Friday. Iran and Russia will send their deputy foreign ministers.

A spokesman from Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement that the talks would focus on “developments related to the nuclear issue and the lifting of sanctions”.

Ties between Iran and Russia have deepened since the start of the Ukraine war in 2022, with a strategic cooperation treaty signed in January, and both have maintained good relations with China.

Last week, Russia said Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov discussed international efforts to tackle Iran’s nuclear programme with its ambassador, Kazem Jalali, after reports that Russia agreed to help the Trump administration in communicating with Iran.

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Tehran has long denied wanting to develop nuclear weapons, but concern remains high among Western countries.

During his first term, President Donald Trump withdrew the US from a landmark 2015 deal between Iran and leading Western powers that had placed strict limits on Tehran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief and imposed a “maximum pressure” campaign.

Since taking office for his second term in January, Trump has expressed an openness to a new deal with Tehran, which would require the support of Beijing and Moscow.

However, he has also reinstated an aggressive sanctions campaign and openly threatened military action as an alternative, provoking anger in Iran.

Iran has officially ruled out direct talks as long as sanctions remain, with President Masoud Pezeshkian declaring on Tuesday that his country “will not bow in humiliation to anyone”.

Last Friday, Trump said he had sent a letter to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urging negotiations and warning of possible military action.

On Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told reporters after a cabinet meeting that Tehran is expecting a representative from an Arab country to deliver the letter.

The semi-official agency ISNA reported the same day that Anwar Mohammed Gargash, a United Arab Emirates diplomatic advisor, was traveling to Iran to meet Araghchi. The report did not attempt to link the visit with the letter.

The meeting in China will follow a closed-door UNSC gathering in New York on Wednesday regarding Iran’s expansion of its stocks of uranium.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN atomic watchdog, has warned that Iran has been “dramatically” accelerating the enrichment of uranium to up to 60 percent purity, inching closer to the weapons-grade level of 90 percent.

The meeting was requested by France, Greece, Panama, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the US, calling on the council to compel Iran to meet its obligation to provide information on its nuclear programme.

Iran reached a comprehensive nuclear deal with the UK, China, France, Germany, Russia and the US in 2015, which lifted sanctions on Tehran in return for curbs on its nuclear programme.

But since Washington quit the plan in 2018, Iran has moved away from its international commitments.

The subsequent Biden administration and European states spent recent years seeking to rebuild the deal, but failed to push it over the line before Trump’s return.