IRAN AND CHINA

 Submitted by: M Mulukin

Iran, China sign huge 25-year strategic deal; could reduce US regional influence.

29 March 2021

FROM THE TIMES OF ISRAEL: The agreement, dubbed the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, covers a variety of economic activity from oil and mining to promoting industrial activity in Iran, as well as transportation and agricultural collaborations, according to the report.

No additional details of the agreement were revealed as Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Chinese counterpart Wang Yi took part in a ceremony marking the event.

The New York Times reported that China will invest some $400 billion in Iran in exchange for oil as part of the deal.

The two countries will also step up military cooperation with joint training, research and intelligence sharing, the report said.

China is Iran’s leading trade partner and was one of the biggest buyers of Iranian oil before then US president Donald Trump reimposed sweeping unilateral sanctions in 2018 after abandoning a multilateral nuclear agreement with Tehran. 

Which the Sleepy Joe administration is about to resurrect!

The deal signed Saturday could undermine US leverage over Iran ahead of expected negotiations and lessen American influence in the Middle East. Ongoing US sanctions against Iran could hamper its trade with China despite Saturday’s agreement, however.

The Times report said Iran was prepared to host direct talks between Israel and the Arab Palestinians, further suggesting that US influence in the region could be waning.

“We believe this document can be very effective in deepening” Iran-China relations, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said, recalling that the pact had first been proposed during a visit to Tehran by Chinese President Xi Jinping in January 2016.

Xi and his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani agreed then to establish a roadmap for “reciprocal investments in the fields of transport, ports, energy, industry and services.”

“Iran’s government and people are striving, as they always have, to broaden relations with trustworthy, independent countries like China,” supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said at the time, describing the proposed cooperation agreement as “correct and reasonable.”

Xi has championed the Belt and Road Initiative, [also signed up to by Dictator Dan the Premier of Victoria] a plan to fund infrastructure projects and increase China’s sway overseas.

The deal with China marked the first time Iran has signed such a lengthy agreement with a major world power.

In 2001, Iran and Russia signed a 10-year cooperation agreement, mainly in the nuclear field, that was lengthened to 20 years through two five year extensions.