"The cooperation between Iran and China will help the implementation of the nuclear agreement by the European signatories and the respect of the commitments undertaken as part of the agreement ". This was stated by Iranian President Hassan Rohani addressing Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, adding that the agreement with China could certainly change the terms of the nuclear issue. The Iranian president praised China's support for Iran in international bodies and also for the nuclear deal and its fight against unilateralism and excessive US demands.
(by Massimiliano D'Elia) A few days ago a bolt from the blue, the American tactics based on the elastic policy this time did not work, on the contrary it pushed China to go from words to deeds by signing a trade agreement with Tehran up to 2030 for a commercial value of 600 billion dollars. The Chinese minister who met with the foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the adviser to the Iranian political leader Ali Larijani, said he believed the pressure exerted by the United States on Iran "illegal and inhumane". He also said he welcomed the approach of the new US administration on the likely return to the nuclear deal, but said that the Americans should immediately remove the sanctions against Iran. In the meantime, China has taken care of alleviating the growing Iranian economic crisis, wasting no time, the opportunity to position itself in a structural way in that part of the globe could not be left to American fluctuating politics.
The agreement between China and Iran, signed two days ago, has significantly increased trade between the two countries, which will reach 600 billion dollars by 2030. The Chinese state alone is committed to investing 400 billion in the first five years, in infrastructure, telecommunications and the energy sector. A vitally important help for Iran which, following the US sanctions, has seen its gross domestic product drop to about 450 billion in 2020. China, strong with its 16 billion GDP, thus lands in a strategic geographical area, positioning itself on a window privileged that looks on Caucasian Asia along the new Silk Road, an additional opportunity to speed up collaboration in the field of 5G, artificial intelligence and industrial sectors mostly linked to the defense sector. The counterpart is particularly advantageous for China because it will obtain Iranian oil at discounts of up to 30 percent compared to market prices. China will have a double geopolitical advantage, the prestige of having reopened in a covertly "legal" way the crude oil taps of Tehran and the world exclusive in the construction of oil pipelines, roads, railways and ports (structures that will however be protected by the security forces Chinese). Rohani's councilor, Hesamoddine Ashena hot stated that the agreement is an example of successful diplomacy but he added that there could be internal protests by the Pasdaran, who do not like to see foreigners in uniform on their territory. Rohani, however, was forced to give in to Chinese flattery due to the pressing economic crisis exacerbated by the pandemic even though before accepting he had asked the newly elected US president Biden several times to immediately end the economic sanctions. A request never received overseas due to the continuation and implementation by Tehran of the nuclear program and intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The American intentions (it was Trump) on the decision to exit the nuclear deal were concretely revealed when the killing of the Iranian general Soleimani was ordered and when the stars and stripes administration signed the Abraham agreement between Israel, United Arab Emirates e Bahrain for the normalization of diplomatic relations between the three countries in an anti-Iranian sense. Another mistake of American diplomacy was recorded at the summit in Alaska on March 18 between the US and China when Biden officials publicly said at the end " no compromise with authoritarian regimes that violate human rights". Beijing's response was immediate: "The words will be followed by the facts ", it is no coincidence that there has been an acceleration of the signing of the agreement with Iran which was already in the works since 2016 when Xi Jinping had visited the Iranian capital.
But the agreement just signed does not only provide for commercial exchanges but also for closer military collaboration both in a more purely operational context and in the field of the Defense industry (Aviation and Aerospace). In November 2016, the two countries had also already signed an agreement to counter terrorism by launching joint exercises such as the one carried out between the Gulf of Oman and the Strait of Hormuz. Large-scale exercise that had affected the two armies in a very important way with the deployment of numerous military assets.
In light of American lukewarmness, China does not stop and goes further: it has already announced that it wants to promote a table in Beijing to reopen negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.
The strategic alliance with Iran also puts the system in place Turkey which is a Chinese variable due to the large loans granted. The Chinese influence is also on the Pakistan to contrast it withIndia which has long been in dialogue with the Quad (Japan, Australia and the United States) to counter Beijing in the South China Sea.
The Chinese dragon, as we have seen, is trying to tighten the United States in a mortal grip which, under the Trump administration with the "America first" paradigm, has left too much space for countries like China, Turkey and Russia which, on the other hand, have known seize the various opportunities of global instability to establish itself in different parts of the globe in ways and activities on the ground that are for the most part highly questionable.