China and Iran have signed a global agreement aimed at setting the course of their economic, political and trade relations over the next 25 years, Iranian state TV reported in a challenge to the Biden administration.
The Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Agreement signed in Tehran on Saturday by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi has been in place since 2016, when President Xi Jinping became the first Chinese leader to visit the Iranian capital. a decade.
“The document can raise bilateral ties to a new strategic level,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said in a televised interview. The agreement focuses on stimulating private sector collaboration and the role of the Islamic Republic in the flagship infrastructure and investment program Xi, the Belt and Road Initiative, he said.
Quick overview: how the US has led Iran and China in a closer embrace
A draft copy of the agreement reached in the media last year showed plans for a long-term supply of Iranian oil to China, as well as investment in oil, gas, petrochemical, renewable and nuclear infrastructure.
Beijing-Tehran alliance is a challenge for US President Joe Biden’s administration, which strives to try rallies allies against China, which Secretary of State Antony Blinken said is “the biggest geopolitical test in the world.”
The Chinese pact comes at a time when efforts to revive Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers are stalled. The Biden administration has said it is open to relaunching Iran after then-President Donald Trump abandoned the deal nearly three years ago and imposed economic sanctions, but the two sides did not even agree to meet.
Iran’s closer integration with China may help strengthen its economy against the impact of US sanctions, while sending a clear signal of Tehran’s intentions to the Biden administration. Wang Yi, who arrived in Tehran on Friday, also met with President Hassan Rouhani to discuss the nuclear deal.
In a televised speech, Rouhani reiterated his views on the prospect of easing restrictions before the end of his second and last term as president in early August.
“We are ready to lift the sanctions,” he said on Saturday. “If obstacles are removed, all or at least some sanctions can be lifted.”