These days, the United States and some of its partners are trying to commandeer certain counter-Revolution media to attack and undermine the comprehensive agreement between Iran and China and take advantage of Iranians’ sense of patriotism to hinder the two countries’ strategic cooperation.
It is clear to everyone that the Islamic Revolution in 1979 helped Iran out of the sphere of the Western allies and ‘slaves’ to pursue its own independent policy. Meanwhile, the United States has been constantly trying to prevent the growth and prosperity of independent countries, and has imposed all kinds of sanctions against the Iranian government and nation in the last 42 years.
With the arrival of Donald Trump in the White House and the eventual withdrawal of the United States from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, the US has sought to push its maximum pressure campaign forward by isolating Iran. US special representative for Iran, Brian Hook, has made it clear that Iran has two options, either to negotiate (i.e. to surrender) or to expect its collapse.
Anti-Iran: US keyword for 40 years
Over the past four decades, the United States has tried to politically and economically isolate Iran and obstruct trade cooperation between Tehran and other countries by adopting a maximum pressure policy on Iran. The escalation of sanctions against Iran in the last decade can be assessed in the same way, that they are means to corner Iran and cut its ties with the rest of the world.
That is why when Iran and China began talks to sign a strategic document for long-term cooperation, it was practically seen as a sign of the failure of US policies to isolate Iran. In this regard, Nikki Haley, the former US Ambassador to the United Nations, wrote in a tweet “China partners with Iran ending Iran's global isolation.”
In order to prevent the failure of its maximum pressure campaign against Iran, the United States is trying to stop the final signing of the agreement by arousing the Iranian people’s patriotic sentiments and comparing the Iran-China agreement with the Treaty of Turkmenchay in 1828 between Iran and Russia that stripped off the last Caucasian territories from Iran.
Iran and China against US
The New York Times in a July 11 article, “Defying U.S., China, and Iran Near Trade and Military Partnership”, described the comprehensive cooperation agreement between Iran and China for the next 25 years as a move that undermines the anti-Iranian measures by the Trump’s administration.
Apart from US efforts to prevent Iran from coming out of isolation, Washington is also in a dispute with the other party to the agreement, that is China, and is using every opportunity to strike a blow at Beijing's political and economic interests.
It is no longer a secret that the rivalry between the United States and China has intensified in recent years, and its objective manifestation can be seen in the trade battle between the two countries, known as the Tariff War.
The United States has known for years that the former world order that emerged after the collapse of the Soviet Union, in which the US, as a superpower, sought to change all world relations to its advantage, is collapsing.
Eagle against the Red Dragon
China, meanwhile, has been able to slowly establish itself as the world's second-largest economy by pursuing the right economic policy and has now become a competitor to US economic hegemony. Many experts believe that even now China's foreign trade volume has surpassed that of the United States. Therefore, many analysts believe that China will definitely be the most powerful economy in the world by 2035.
China's astonishing growth in technology has led it to surpass the US in patents for the first time. This technological advancement has led many European countries to call on Chinese companies to upgrade their Internet to 5G.
Majid Reza Hariri, President of the Iran-China Chamber of Commerce, believes that theoretical studies on 6G Internet have been completed in China and the country is putting 6G Internet into operation while no such studies have been yet conducted in the West.
The United States, meanwhile, is seizing every opportunity to undermine China, and because it is accustomed to bullying tactics and abuse of power, it is trying to keep Chinese companies out of competition through sanctions or lawsuits. Washington is also trying to increase political pressure on Beijing on issues such as Hong Kong or Tibet.
The Wall Street Journal wrote in an article on July 11 that “Iran and China are seeking to cement a wide-ranging partnership that would deflect U.S. economic pressure and ease Tehran’s global isolation.”
Enemies of the past turned into benefactors of today!
That is why, with the finalization of negotiations for the signing of a cooperation document between Tehran and Beijing, US efforts to prevent its conclusion and the loss of leverage against Iran and China have entered a new phase. Therefore, those who had been seeking maximum pressure against the government and the people of Iran, are now pretending to be looking out for Iranian people like a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who had previously called for the Iranian people to starve to surrender, has repeatedly likened the Iran-China cooperation document to the Turkmenchay agreement. Following in his footsteps were anti-Iranian media that like US puppets began to fabricate false narratives in order to influence public opinion and prevent the signing of the agreement.
Washington is well aware that the era of US unilateralism and bullying is coming to an end, and that independent nations are challenging the US in all areas of politics, security, and economics. The US is also concerned about losing its economic standing in the world and knows full well that it will not be an undisputed world power in a few years.
All political experts believe that Iran has a high geopolitical and geoeconomic position in West Asia, and in the competition between the US and China for access to the highest global economy, any country that can establish special economic and political relations with Iran, it will be also included in the fierce competition of the future world.
Iran-China close relations a threat to the Zionist regime
The Israeli-owned Jerusalem Post in a report on July 14 voiced concern over the signing of the Iran-China agreement, described it as bad news for the Israeli regime and said that Chinese investments would go a long way towards undoing the US maximum pressure campaign.
“For Israel, the potential for damage from such an agreement is clear,” it wrote.
Javad Mansouri, the former Iranian ambassador to China, said in an interview with Mehr News, "The West does not want Iran to get out of its sphere of control. At the same time, the US has no desire to allow any independent country to develop. The close relations between Iran and China, as two independent states, is clearly a threat to the US hegemony and global Arrogance, and their opposition today is precisely because of their fears and concerns.”
And now the US – knowing that Iran, as an independent country engaged in the fight against global Arrogance – is trying to prevent the establishment of a strategic relationship between Tehran and Beijing. Washington knows that the strategic proximity of Iran and China, given Tehran's geopolitical position in West Asia, as well as Beijing's economic power, benefits both countries and poses a real threat to the Zionist regime and accelerates US decline. That is why the recent measures of the United States and its allies should be considered as a drowning man that is sinking into the swamp.
By: Mohsen Ahadi
MNA/4974144