Iran is going ‘all-in’ on China ties

Iran’s Foreign Minister went to Beijing on Saturday for high level meetings that focused on Iran’s ties with China as well as talks focused on Gaza and Syria.

By SETH J. FRANTZMAN DECEMBER 29, 2024 13:45 Updated: DECEMBER 29, 2024 13:47

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Saturday. (photo credit: SCREENSHOT/X)

Iran is seeking to increase ties with China. This is a trend that goes back several years as Iran approved a 25-year agreement with China that is supposed to see massive investment in Iran by China.

However, Iran wants to move things along faster as it sees how it is losing ground in places like Syria.

While Iran’s IRGC seeks to continue to invest in proxy militias and waste billions on foreign wars, Iran’s current government understands that diplomacy and bilateral ties with countries is where Iran’s future lies. This matters for Israel and the Middle East because Iran-China ties could make Iran more powerful and bring China deeper into the region. It could also have the result of either empowering the IRGC or reducing the IRGC’s influence, depending on how things change in Tehran.

Towards that end Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held talks with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi on Saturday. Iranian state media described some of the meetings. Araghchi also met with Norlan Yermakbayev, the Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian speaks during a plenary session in the outreach/BRICS Plus format at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, October 24, 2024. (credit: POOL, REUTERS/MAXIM SHEMETOV)

Iran’s foreign minister is in Beijing to discuss many aspects of cooperation. This is the first major visit to China by an Iranian official under the new Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian. The two countries continue to work on what they call a “comprehensive strategic partnership document.” Iran considers its current strategic relationship with Beijing to be “ironclad,” Iran’s foreign minister said.

Meanwhile Araghchi also met Yermekbayev, who is the new Secretary-General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in Beijing. The SCO is one of several important economic blocs that Iran is seeking to work with in the future. This includes BRICS and the recent meeting of the D-8 in Cairo.

“Araghchi, while meeting with Yermekbayev on Saturday afternoon referred to the increasing importance of the SCO for advancing multilateralism and ensuring the security and political interests of member countries,” IRNA noted. 

The SCO “can play an impactful and growing role in enhancing multilateralism and strengthening cooperation among member countries in various security, political, and economic fields, the top Iranian diplomat underscored,” the IRNA report added. “Yermekbayev described Iran's capacities for further strengthening the position and role of the SCO as very important and welcomed the initiatives proposed by Iran to expand activities within the grouping’s economic, banking, and commercial spheres.”

Members of the SCO

The SCO currently includes China, India, Russia, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Iran and Belarus. It also has observer states, that include Mongolia and Afghanistan. It has dialogue partners as well which include Turkey, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Maldives, and Myanmar. Turkey, like Iran, is seeking closer ties with non-western economic blocs.

Meanwhile Araghchi and his counterpart Wang Yi discussed the Middle East. “The Middle East belongs to its people, and it should not serve as a battleground for the interests of major powers. The future and destiny of Middle Eastern countries must be determined by their own peoples,” a statement from both envoys indicated.

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“The international community must respect the national sovereignty, security, stability, unity, and territorial integrity of Middle Eastern countries,” they added.

The two officials also discussed “the issue of Palestine” where they talked about the “legal rights of Palestinians must be restored and the Israeli occupation must come to an end.” The countries discussed the need to supply humanitarian aid to Gaza.

IRNA noted “they also stressed that the ceasefire agreement in Lebanon must be thoroughly implemented. In Syria, the top diplomats called for serious efforts to combat extremism and terrorism, establish internal reconciliation, and dispatch humanitarian aid to the Syrian people.”