Last week, Iran and China signed a massive economic pact. Under this agreement, China will invest $400 billion in several sectors in Iran over the next 25 years.
In exchange Iran will provide oil to China on favorable terms. This brings to fruition the approach initiated by Chinese President Xi towards Iran in 2016. At that time, having just completed an agreement with global powers which were supposed to open Iran to Western investment, Iran was reluctant to engage with China.
Now that the previous US administration has blown up the so-called Iran nuclear deal, Iran felt free, even eager, to respond positively to Chinese outreach. The new Biden Administration has shown eagerness to revive the 2015 deal with Iran, but it may be too late to revive it as originally agreed. One can hardly blame Iran for being suspicious of any new agreement it may sign with the US. After all, it only takes one US election cycle for any agreement to be trashed by a new administration. Read more…