China and Iran must sign 25-year agreement, Iranian state media says

DUBAI (Reuters) – Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi arrived in Iran on Friday for a visit that Iranian state media said would see the signing of a 25-year cooperation agreement between the two countries, both under U.S. sanctions. .

The deal, whose final details are yet to be announced, is expected to include Chinese investments in Iran’s energy and infrastructure sectors.

In 2016, China, Iran’s largest trading partner and longtime ally, agreed to increase bilateral trade more than 10 times, to $ 600 billion over the next decade.

“The signing of the comprehensive cooperation program of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the People’s Republic of China by the foreign ministers of both countries is another program on this two-day trip,” said the state news agency IRNA.

Iran is tightening its position on the United States and the European parts of the 2015 Tehran nuclear deal with world powers.

“This document is a complete roadmap with strategic political and economic clauses covering commercial, economic and transport cooperation … with a special focus on private sectors on both sides,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh , to state TV.

On Thursday, China’s Ministry of Commerce said Beijing would make efforts to safeguard the nuclear deal with Iran and defend the legitimate interests of Sino-Iranian relations.

China made the comments after Reuters reported that Iran “indirectly” transferred record volumes of oil to China in the past few months, marked as supplies from other countries, even though China’s customs data showed that no Iranian oil was imported into the United States. first two months of this year.

U.S. President Joe Biden sought to resume talks with Iran over the nuclear deal abandoned by former President Donald Trump in 2018, although tough economic measures remain in a place that Tehran insists on being suspended before negotiations resume.

The United States and the other Western powers that joined the 2015 agreement appear to be at odds with Tehran on which side should return to the agreement first, making it unlikely that U.S. sanctions that have damaged Iran’s economy can be quickly removed.

However, OPEC member’s oil exports increased in January after a fourth-quarter boost despite U.S. sanctions, a sign that the end of Trump’s term may be changing buyer behavior. Since the end of 2018, there has been a sharp drop in Iranian exports to China and other Asian customers.