Beijing, China - After a meeting in Beijing, China and Russia stood by Iran's "peaceful" nuclear program in a joint statement. The move comes as President Donald Trump pushes for talks with Tehran.

China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov and Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazeem Gharibabadi in Beijing for talks on Tehran's nuclear program.

A joint statement released by the three countries welcomed Iran's nuclear program and stressed that it was for peaceful purposes.

China, Russia, and Iran "emphasized that the relevant parties should be committed to addressing the root cause of the current situation and abandoning sanction, pressure or threat of force," Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu told reporters.

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As part of the joint statement, Russia, China and Iran called for an end to "illegal" sanctions from the US, and warned other countries "from taking any action that would aggravate the situation."

They also reiterated their countries' friendship and stressed they will "continue consultations, cooperation, and coordination between the three countries on this matter and other issues of mutual interest."

"The three countries reiterated the importance of upholding the Treaty on the Non-proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) as the cornerstone of international non-proliferation regime," China's foreign ministry revealed in their version of the joint statement.

"China and Russia welcomed Iran’s reiteration that its nuclear programme is exclusively for peaceful purposes and not for development of nuclear weapons."

US President Donald Trump last week wrote a letter to Iran calling for open talks on the prevention of nuclear weapons development, and threatened military action if they failed to come to the table.

"I've written them a letter, saying I hope you're going to negotiate because if we have to go in militarily it's going to be a terrible thing for them," Trump told Fox Business.

The move triggered rumors over the course of the week that a meeting between China, Russia, and Iran was set to happen on Friday, likely in response to Washington's threats.

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A spokesperson for China's foreign ministry again reiterated that Iran's nuclear program is purely for peaceful purposes and the use of nuclear energy.

"The Iranian nuclear issue is facing a serious situation and once again at a crossroads," said spokesperson Mao Ning. "The Beijing meeting is a useful effort by China, Russia and Iran in seeking to advance the political settlement of the Iranian nuclear issue."

"Sanction, pressuring and threat of force lead nowhere, whereas dialogue and consultation provides the right way forward. We call on parties to step up communication and dialogue and accumulate enabling conditions for talks and negotiations to resume at an early date."