U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook and Undersecretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy Security and Environmental Protection Keith Crack attributed it to the threat of U.S. sanctions.
Chinese companies will not dare to actively develop ties with Iran because of the threat of American sanctions against them. This statement was made by US Special Envoy for Iran Brian Hook and Deputy Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy Security and Environmental Protection Keith Krak in a joint article published in the electronic version of The Wall Street Journal on Monday.
The paper assesses the plans for Tehran-Beijing cooperation. According to Hook and Krak, it was reported that the Chinese side may invest about $400 billion in the Iranian economy. The State Department representatives express doubts that this will be done. “The scale and feasibility of this agreement should cause healthy scepticism. We must doubt Beijing’s ability to invest $400 billion in Iranian infrastructure,” they say. – In comparison, China has invested less than $27 billion in Iran in the past 15 years, before the Chinese economy was damaged by COVID-19.
According to Hook and Krak, “there are other reasons why this agreement is unlikely to be implemented as reported”. “Many Chinese state-owned companies, especially in the energy sector, cannot afford to suffer financial losses as a result of the U.S. sanctions imposed on them by entering the Iranian market”, – the authors believe.
Hook and Krak argue in the publication that the Iranian and Chinese authorities commit human rights violations. State Department representatives call these states “totalitarian twins.
On June 24, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during a video conference with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi expressed hope that an agreement on comprehensive cooperation between the two countries would be signed soon. The agreement is expected to be concluded for 25 years. According to the Iranian side, details of the agreement will be announced after the document is signed.