China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has pledged Beijing's commitment to respecting Iran’s territorial integrity and sovereignty.

According to The Iran Project, Wang made the remarks in the western Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod on Monday as he met with Iran's interim Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani on the sidelines of a ministerial meeting of the BRICS group of emerging economies.

The remarks came a few days after the Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned China’s ambassador to Tehran to protest Beijing’s support for “baseless claims” regarding three Iranian islands in the Persian Gulf.

Earlier, the Chinese government had expressed support for the United Arab Emirates’ claim about the triple islands, which have historically been part of Iran.

Wang went on to assert that “China is resolved to expand [its] strategic relations with the Islamic Republic in all areas.”

For his part, Bagheri Kani described the Sino-Iranian relations as historical, deep-rooted, and undergoing enhancement in all areas.