Understanding Iran Regime’s Dirty Deal With China

Written by
Shahriar Kia

In recent weeks, international media outlets and even Iran’s state-run media have reported on a deal between the mullahs’ regime and China, with the mullahs handing over some Iranian islands to the Chinese government for 25 years.

The regime is handing some of the most important islands to China out of desperation to find an international ally as the noose of sanctions around the mullahs’ neck tightens. Previously, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) in this regard wrote: “The regime is handing the Kish island to China in exchange for military, regional and international support. Particularly, the mullahs’ regime fears the upcoming decision of the United Nations Security Council over an extension of the arms embargo on the regime.”

Here we intend to understand several facts of this one-sided agreement: the first fact is that China, if forced to, will prioritize its interests in relation with the United States rather than keeping up its support of the Iranian regime. One example was China’s action in not vetoing the United Nations Security Council’s Resolution regarding the regime’s nuclear program, and in fact, voting in favor of it.

Even the regime’s state-run media have acknowledged that China is not “a reliable partner.”

The state-run Jahan-e Sanat daily in an article in this regard, entitled as “Reliable partner or a fair-weather?” wrote: “In a crucial situation, China such as Russia preserved its interests with the U.S. and when it was needed, if its interests were jeopardized, turned its back on Islamic Republic.”

The regime’s officials have refused to publish the text of this agreement. They fear that this might trigger and explosion in the restive society and amplify the hatred of a people who are being crushed under economic pressure.

Yet the Petroleum-Economist in an article in this regard in September 2019 wrote:

“Chinese companies will be given the first refusal to bid on any new, stalled or uncompleted oil and gas field developments.
Chinese firms will also have first refusal on opportunities to become involved with any and all petchems projects in Iran, including the provision of technology, systems, process ingredients and personnel required to complete such projects.
China will also be able to buy any and all oil, gas and petchems products at a minimum guaranteed discount of 12pc to the six-month rolling mean price of comparable benchmark products, plus another 6pc to 8pc of that metric for risk-adjusted compensation.
China intends to utilise the low cost labour available in Iran to build factories, designed and overseen by large Chinese manufacturing companies, with identical specifications and operations to those in China, according to the Iranian source.”
In return the regime gets this chance to strengthen its oppressive force. As the Oil Price website wrote on July 6: “Part of the new military co-operation includes an exchange of personnel between Iran and China and Russia, with up to 110 senior Iranian IRGC men going for training every year in Beijing and Moscow and 110 Chinese and Russians going to Tehran for their training.”

While the regime auctions Iran and gives away national wealth to prolong its rule, the Iranian people are struggling with poverty and the COVID-19 pandemic. The latter has claimed the lives of over 78,000 people because of the regime’s inaction, deliberate cover-up and forcing people back to work.

In this regard, the state-run Mehr News agency wrote: “Only 30% of Khuzestani household income is spent on food, which indicates that food security does not have a good indicator.”

The regime’s institutionalized corruption and its funding of terrorism, as well as the wrong economic policies have increased the rate of essential goods. Thus, some vital items such as milk, meat and vegetables will be removed from the food basket for most Iranians.

In a report published on May 31, the Research Center of the Iranian regime’s parliament wrote: “The first factor in the country’s economic decline is the fall in the national GDP. The average inflation rate in the last four decades has been 20 percent, while the average inflation rate in the world has fluctuated at around 3 to 4 percent.”

In a nutshell, as Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the NCRI’s president-elect, had said: ““For Khomeini, [regime’s supreme leader Ali] Khamenei and Rouhani, neither water, nor the land, nor the culture, nor the lives, nor the wealth of the Iranian people have any value. Only one thing matters: Preserving the rule of the mullahs, which Khomeini described as the ‘absolute imperative,’ and for which one can abrogate Islamic edicts, and first and foremost give away the land and water of Iran and its people and massacre its valiant children in the prisons. Indeed, what could an invader do that the mullahs have not done to Iran and the Iranian people. The mullahs are among the worst in Iran’s history.”

Back to top button