Iran: Talks on China deal not tied to US election results
Iran’s Foreign Ministry has rejected media reports that talks with China on a major economic and security partnership agreement has been suspended until results of the November 3 presidential elections in the US are known.
Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh denied those reports on Wednesday, stressing, “These issues are raised by adversarial media and are untrue,” Press TV reported.
The official added that Iran and China were continuing discussions on the so-called 25-year deal without being influenced by the political situation in the US.
“Negotiations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and China under the 25-year agreement is continuing diligently and (they) are not tied to elections of any country specially the United States of America,” said Khatibzadeh.
Iran and China have been moving to finalize a major agreement to facilitate cooperation in areas like energy, investment and security.
Reports have suggested that China would commit to nearly $400 billion of investment in Iran in 25 years while Iran would in return guarantee to provide a stable supply of crude and related products to China.
Increasing cooperation between Iran and China have been viewed as a response to growing US pressure on the two countries, especially on Iran since incumbent US President Donald Trump came to office in 2017.
Trump withdrew his country from a major international agreement on Iran’s nuclear activity in 2018 before he began to impose a series of unprecedented economic sanctions on Tehran.
Analysts believe US sanctions have only strengthened Iran’s Look East policy with China becoming a major focus of such strategic approach.
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