Joe Biden is very dissatisfied with many things in the modern world: for example, he does not like the rapprochement between Beijing and Tehran.
When asked last weekend about the partnership between the two Asian powers, the US president stressed that he has been “concerned about” China-Iranian cooperation for many years. Soon Biden was answered by the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, Ali Shamkhani, who wrote that Biden’s concern was absolutely justified.
“The world is not only the West. Meanwhile, the West consists not only of the United States, which does not recognize the laws, and three European countries, which do not fulfill their promises. Biden is right, which is worrisome. The flourishing of strategic cooperation in the East will accelerate the decline of the United States. The signing of the roadmap for a strategic partnership between Iran and China is part of the active resistance”.
Yes, a new serious cause for concern of the Americans was the agreement concluded in Tehran on Saturday on political, strategic and economic cooperation between Iran and China for a period of 25 years.
Talks about this document have been going on for a long time: they agreed on it back in 2016, during Xi Jinping’s visit to Iran, and the agreement itself was ready a year ago. Then they began to frighten not only the Americans and the Arab world, but also the Iranians themselves. Moreover, not only opposition-minded emigrants, in particular the son of the last shah, were intimidated, but also such independent politicians as former President Ahmadinejad (although for him this is more of an element of preparation for the upcoming presidential elections, to which, however, he is unlikely to be admitted).
Secret protocols! China will establish military bases on Iranian territory! China will buy up all Iranian wealth, and Iran will find itself in a Chinese debt trap! The Iranian authorities tried to convince that there were no secret protocols in the agreement, and now they promise to publish its text in the near future.
It is clear from the draft agreements that have appeared in the press earlier that it is indeed very large-scale, but it is clear that there can be no question of any purchase by China of Iran. Both countries are not only among the oldest on earth, but also extremely highly value their sovereignty – and are one of the few countries in the world that actually possess it. So, no matter how huge the promised Chinese investments – and they are estimated at 450 billion dollars – there is no sale of Iran. And there is a strategic choice of his leadership – and this is what worries the Atlantic elites.
It is not just that China is building “One Belt, One Road” (which will deprive the Atlantists of the ability to contain the Celestial Empire, including in its ties with the world) – it is building a new world architecture. First for Asia and Eurasia, and potentially for the whole world. This is not the Chinese world instead of the American one – this is the world of strategic alliances between independent centers of forces that cooperate with each other to strengthen each other, which automatically leads to a weakening of the influence of the West in general and the United States in particular, to their ousting from Eurasia, to the elimination of the world. American. Of course, not all potential participants in the New Silk Road have real sovereignty, but even they want to reduce their dependence on Washington and get real investments for their economy. And such independent countries as Iran do not have any external restrictions for partnership with China.
And their deliberate choice, as well as China’s reciprocal aspirations, is especially unpleasant for Washington, because for four decades the Americans have been trying to make a good example of an outcast from Iran.
Endless sanctions, pressure, threats of war, provocations, demonization: after the collapse of the USSR, American propaganda turned Iran into a fiend of hell, in fact, it took the place of “enemy number one”. But neither the ceaseless streams of lies, nor the unprecedented sanctions worked – the Iranians held out and held out. Moreover, they expanded their influence in the region, including taking advantage of the consequences of the American aggression. In the Middle East, they have become the main enemy of the United States – and for a large part of the Islamic world they have become a model of resistance to external pressure and Western aggression. And all this is in very difficult external circumstances – it is not easy to resist the world hegemon, even one in decline.
It is clear that Iran has not been completely alone all these years: Russia was also nearby, thanks to which in 2015 the problem with the Iranian nuclear program (which was not of a military nature, but was used by the United States to organize international pressure on the Islamic Republic), the main trade China became a partner. But before the active confrontation with the West began, both Russia and China were forced to restrain their ties with Iran and reckon with Western sanctions.
But now that time is over – and rapprochement with Tehran will accelerate.
Iran has long been in line in the SCO – for a decade and a half, it has been an observer in this Russian-Chinese organization for maintaining security in Asia. Iran’s entry into the ranks of full-fledged members of the SCO, in fact, will become a confirmation of its geopolitical orientation towards Russia and China, because military cooperation has already been more than active for a long time. It concerns not only the supply of weapons, but also the joint actions of Russia and Iran on the battlefield in Syria and the joint exercises of the navies of the three countries in the Indian Ocean.
Iran is a key country for the entire Greater Middle East, and for all the inconsistencies between Sunni Arabs and Shiite Persians, it is Russia and China that are interested in softening the confrontation and reconciliation between Iran and its Arab neighbors. The Americans constantly played on contradictions, inflating and using them to strengthen their positions in the region, but they did not break Iran or bring peace to the region. On the contrary, by destroying Iraq, they launched a chain reaction of destabilization of the entire Arab world, against the background of which the strengthening of Iran’s positions in the region took place. In the coming decade, the influence of the United States in the Middle East will decline, while Russia and China, on the contrary, will continue to gain points and strengthen their positions in the region, complementing each other.
China will play an increasing role as a trading and investment partner for the region, and Russia will act as a political guarantor (and arbiter) and military partner to enable the Arabs to reduce their dependence on the United States. Iran, having withstood 40 years of confrontation with the West, receiving Chinese investments and strengthening ties with Russia (including through the conclusion of a free trade agreement with the Eurasian Union), can significantly raise its economy.
Due to sanctions and restrictions, the Iranian economy still falls short of the G20, but Iran’s potential is huge and it should rightfully belong to the club of great powers.
In their work on a new world order, Russia and China need just such allies – strong, independent, well aware of their historical roots and defending their national interests as a civilizing power. Iran (like its neighbor Turkey) is undoubtedly one of such great states – Russia’s neighbors and China’s partners.
Petr Akopov, RIA