There’s Less to the China-Iran Deal Than Meets the Eye
Beijing is interested in cheap oil, but it won’t risk other, more lucrative relations for Tehran.
We have a deal.
Photographer: Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
By happy coincidence, my weekend shopping list included a new jar of salt: I needed rather more than a pinch to season the news of the 25-year “comprehensive strategic partnership” between Iran and China. The deal, announced with triumph in Tehran, was received with alarm in some quarters West, where it was interpreted variously as an act of Iranian defiance of U.S. sanctions and a sign that China is supplanting American influence in the Middle East.
In reality, it’s none of the above. For all the Iranian hype, the deal is not so much a “partnership” as a promissory note espousing better economic, political and trade relations between the two countries over the next quarter-century.