Monday, 10 August 2020_An American news publication says a potential long-term strategic partnership between Iran and China would thwart the West’s plots against the two countries.
The Foreign Policy said in a report on Sunday that the agreement can be an “economic lifeline” for Iran, saving its economy which is targeted by America’s tough sanctions, noting that the pact would ensure the sale of Iranian oil and gas to China.
The deal can tip the balance in favor of Iran in any possible future negotiations with the West, it added.
According to the report, the new partnership proves that US President Donald Trump administration's so-called “maximum pressure” against Iran has been a failure. The deal, it said, could jeopardize the possibility of a Republican victory in the November 2020 presidential election as it failed to force Tehran to buckle and further strengthened Iran-China ties.
The US unleashed the so-called maximum pressure campaign against Iran in 2018, when it unilaterally scrapped the 2015 nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Following its withdrawal, Washington targeted the Iranian nation with the “toughest ever” economic sanctions.
The Foreign Policy said the pact would also be of a great benefit to China as it would help Beijing guarantee its energy security, referring to Beijing's fears that the US may put pressure on Arab countries in the region not to supply its rival with the oil it needs amid the intensified trade war between the world’s two largest economies.
The news publication described a comprehensive strategic partnership with Iran as "both a hedge and an insurance policy" in favor of China.
The administration of Trump took a stern anti-China posture soon after it took office in 2017. It has clashed with Beijing over trade, the South China Sea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the coronavirus pandemic.
The US magazine said a Sino-Iranian strategic partnership will affect the great-power rivalry between the US and China, giving Beijing yet another perch from which it can challenge US power amid the geopolitical and economic importance of the Middle East.
It noted that the deal could promote stability in the region, unlike the US, which has been benefiting from rivalry and division in the region.
“Chinese-Iranian partnership could eventually reshape the region’s security landscape by promoting stability through the Chinese approach of developmental peace.”
Iran and China have agreed to develop a 25-year roadmap for strategic partnership, with the idea first conceived in the 1990s, but the two sides have yet to finalize it for implementation.
Relations between Iran and China go as far back as the ancient Silk Road, but they are gaining strategic significance because the West’s refusal to work with Iran under the US pressure and its efforts to clip China’s wings and stop its economic and political rise is automatically pushing Tehran and Beijing into an alliance of sorts.