China and the Iran War: Beijing's Ambitions in the Middle East

China and the Iran War: Beijing's Ambitions in the Middle East

From Pekingology by Center for Strategic and International Studies

April 30, 2026 · 39 min

About this episode

The episode explores China's ambitions in the Middle East and its approach to the U.S. war against Iran, featuring insights from expert Aaron Glasserman.

In this episode of Pekingology, CSIS Senior Fellow Henrietta Levin is joined by Aaron Glasserman, an expert on China's Middle East strategy and postdoctoral fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for the Study of Contemporary China. Aaron and Henrietta unpack what China is really trying to achieve in the Middle East, how China is approaching the U.S. war against Iran, and what this all means for the upcoming summit between President Trump and President Xi.

People in this episode

Host: Henrietta Levin

Guest: Aaron Glasserman

Topics covered

  • China's Middle East strategy
  • U.S. war against Iran
  • China-Iran relations
  • Geopolitical ambitions
  • International diplomacy
  • Trump-Xi summit

Keywords

  • China
  • Iran
  • Middle East
  • U.S. war
  • geopolitics
  • Trump
  • Xi
  • diplomacy
  • strategy

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Center for Strategic and International Studies

Places: China, Iran, United States, Middle East

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