China should expand its role in the fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS), a senior adviser to the supreme leader of Iran told the country's Fars news agency recently.

Mohsen Rezaei, who heads Iran's powerful Expediency Discernment Council of the System, made the statement after meeting with an official delegation from China last Thursday in Tehran.   

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The expediency council is a top tier political organization of advisers to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

In a report quoting Fars, Reuters said Rezaei is urging Beijing to do more in the war against ISIS.

"China can significantly help the regional peace and stability by becoming more active in the fight against the Islamic State," Rezaei said, using another name for the terror organization.

China's President Xi Jinping declared war on ISIS last November after the extremist group killed four Chinese citizens, including the 50-year old consultant Fan Jinghui who ISIS claims to have executed last month along with Norwegian national Ole Johan Grimsgaard-Ofstad. 

But observers note that -- while China relies on the Middle East for much of its oil supply --  Beijing has left much of the diplomacy in the region to other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), namely the US, Britain, France and Russia.

Rezaei said that if China expands its role in the fight against ISIS, "Iran can fight against Islamic extremism in Central Asia through cultural activities and interaction with Chinese Muslim community."

Iran, a bastion of Shi'ite power in the Middle East, has increased its military presence in ISIS-controlled areas in Iraq and Syria.  The Sunni Islamist group considers Shi'ite Muslims as heretics, and there have been some accounts of ISIS militants singling Shias out for execution in territories they control.

Three Chinese nationals from the China Railway Construction Corp were among those killed when gunmen shouting Islamist slogans attacked the Radisson Blu Hotel in Mali last November.  The murder of the three executives and the execution of Fan prompted angry condemnation and a declaration of war from Beijing. 

"The Chinese government strongly condemns this inhuman action and will definitely hold the perpetrators accountable," Xi said in a statement issued after the attack.

TagsIran, China-Iran ties, Tehran, ISIS