Senior Chinese and Russian diplomats said dialogue should only resume based on "mutual respect" and all sanctions ought to be lifted.

China and Russia are both permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, along with France and Britain, that took part in the original 2015 Iran nuclear deal preliminary framework agreement. Trump withdrew America from the accord in 2018, setting in motion years of tensions in the wider Middle East.

Senior diplomats from Iran, Russia and China gathered in Beijing on Friday for talks on Tehran's nuclear issues, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported, days after Tehran rejected U.S.