China's President Xi Jinping attends a ceremony.

China's President Xi Jinping has accepted Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi's invitation to pay a state visit to Iran, a joint communique between both countries said on Thursday.

The statement released on Raisi's last day of a three-day visit to Beijing did not give more details.

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Earlier, Chinese leader Xi expressed support for Iran during a visit on Tuesday by its president as Tehran tries to expand relations with Beijing and Moscow to offset Western sanctions over its nuclear development.

The official Chinese account of Xi’s meeting with Raisi gave no indication whether they discussed Russia’s attack on Ukraine. Tehran supplied military drones to Russian President Vladimir Putin's government but says they were delivered before the war began.

China's President Xi Jinping and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi pose for a photograph.

Xi expressed support for Raisi’s government in language Beijing uses to criticise Washington’s domination of global affairs. China and Iran portray themselves, alongside Moscow, as counterweights to American power.

"China supports Iran in safeguarding national sovereignty” and "resisting unilateralism and bullying,” Xi said in a statement carried by Chinese state TV on its website.

Xi and Raisi attended the signing of 20 cooperation agreements including trade and tourism, the Chinese government announced. Those add to a 25-year strategy agreement signed in 2021 to cooperate in developing oil, industry and other fields.

China is one of the biggest buyers of Iranian oil and a source of investment.