Iran Looks East: Building Ties with China
Iran’s theocratic dictatorship, locked into a confrontation with the United States and many other states by its nuclear weapons ambitions and Islamist ideology, is drifting into China’s orbit. The Iran–China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership agreement signed in Tehran in March 2021, and Iran’s admission to the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)—the multilateral Eurasian diplomatic forum led by China and Russia—in September, underscore the expansion of political, economic, and strategic ties between Iran and China.
Source: heritage.org