Chinese dictator Xi Jinping expressed his support for Iran in a phone call Monday with his nominal counterpart, outgoing Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
Xi said Beijing supports Iran’s “reasonable demands” for reviving the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The Chinese Foreign Ministry’s readout of the call said Xi saluted Iran as a partner in fighting the coronavirus pandemic and achieving “positive results in bilateral practical cooperation.”
After reflecting on 50 ostensibly successful years of Chinese-Iranian diplomacy, Xi threw China’s weight behind Iran on a few specific issues:
China will continue to firmly support Iran in safeguarding national sovereignty and dignity, and is willing to provide as much assistance as possible for Iran’s fight against the pandemic and help the Iranian people prevail over the virus.
China supports Iran’s reasonable demands concerning the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on the Iranian nuclear issue, and stands ready to strengthen coordination with Iran and safeguard the common interests of both sides.
China will also continue to play a constructive role in pushing for an early and just settlement of the Palestinian question, and is ready to work with Iran to strengthen communication and cooperation on regional and international affairs, and jointly promote regional security and stability.
China unleashed the coronavirus, and Iran had one of the world’s worst responses to it — including lies and obfuscations on par with Beijing’s to conceal how severe the Iranian epidemic became, and how much worse the policies of Rouhani’s government made it. As for the Palestinian situation, Iran is the major arms supplier to Palestinian terrorist gangs. The blood of countless Israelis and Palestinians is on the hands of Hamas, Iran — and now China, if Xi helps to make the world’s worst state sponsor of terrorism richer.
In late March, China and Iran signed a 25-year “Comprehensive Strategic Partnership” for cooperation on oil and other lucrative industries, along with intelligence and military coordination. Many details of the agreement are confidential, but its value has been estimated at over $400 billion.
Xi inserting himself forcefully into JCPOA negotiations as Iran’s heavyweight champion suggests U.S. President Joe Biden will pay a very high price to get Barack Obama’s nuclear deal back.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry on Monday praised Iran for extending a short-term nuclear site monitoring deal with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) — ensuring it will last just long enough for Rouhani’s successor to be “elected” in Iran’s farcical presidential contest on June 18 — and urged the United States to return to the JCPOA.
“The Chinese side has done a lot of work to promote the progress of the negotiation. The extension reflects Iran’s willingness to promote the resumption of the agreement,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian.
IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi described the inspection extension as a “temporary technical understanding,” a “stopgap measure” that would help his staffers “avoid flying completely blind.”
The Iranians suggested other countries should “seize the extra opportunity provided by Iran in good faith for the complete lifting of sanctions in a practical and verifiable manner.” Iran is refusing to allow the IAEA to investigate certain sites and threatening it with deletion of surveillance data from many other sites unless it backs down.
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