Strategic agreement between China and Iran enters into force

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian on December 6, 2021 in Tehran.

Atta Kenare AFP/Archivos

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China and Iran announced on Saturday the start of the implementation of a 25-year strategic agreement, signed in 2021, thus strengthening economic and political cooperation between the two countries.

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Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Iranian counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian announced the start of its implementation during a meeting in Wuxi, east China, on Friday.

Few details of this secret deal have been released, but according to our correspondent in Tehran,

,

the agreement includes cooperation in many areas, in particular for the regular supply of Iranian oil to China or colossal investments by Beijing in the oil, gas and even petrochemical sectors of Iran.

China, which regularly denounces the American sanctions, is already the first economic and commercial partner of Iran and the first customer of Iranian oil.

The head of Chinese diplomacy assured Friday that Beijing would continue to “

”.

No official figures have been provided on the amount of oil exports from Iran to China, but a few days ago Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi claimed that Iran's oil sales had increased by 40% these last months.

President Raisi in Moscow

The implementation of this cooperation agreement also comes in the midst of

between Tehran and the major powers to revive the 2015 nuclear agreement. An agreement concluded between Iran, the United States, China, Russia, the UK, France and Germany, providing sanctions relief in exchange for limiting Iran's nuclear program. But the United States pulled out of the deal in 2018, reimposing tough sanctions and pushing Tehran to renege on its commitments.

Tehran is definitely turning to China, but also to Russia.

Indeed, President Raisi is due to go to Moscow in a few days to sign a 20-year cooperation agreement with President Putin, in particular for the purchase of military equipment, including combat planes.

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