China’s top diplomat has told his Iranian counterpart that Beijing “supports maintaining the momentum of the ceasefire and peace talks” in a phone call, AFP reports.

Peace talks are “in the fundamental interests of the Iranian people and are also the shared hope of regional countries and the international community,” Wang Yi has said, according to a Chinese foreign ministry statement.

He added China was willing to continue to play a “constructive role” towards peace in the Middle East after a first round of Iran-US talks in Islamabad failed to reach an agreement.