China and Iran signed a package of economic and security agreements on Saturday (March 27) in which China agreed to invest $400 billion in Iran over 25 years in exchange for a steady supply of oil to power its growing economy. Many conservative U.S. hawks see the agreement reached Saturday as evidence of the emergence of a new anti-Washington axis. But the State Department on Wednesday stressed its shared interests with China on the Iranian nuclear issue and declined to comment publicly on the “strategic cooperation” agreement between Beijing and Tehran.
Asked at a press conference Wednesday (March 31) whether the U.S. had reviewed the agreement between Iran and China and how it would be evaluated, State Department spokesman Ned Price said: “In terms of the broad U.S. position, our current sanctions related to Iran will remain in place until they are lifted as part of the diplomatic process. The U.S. will address any efforts at sanctions evasion, and sanctions policy has not changed at this Time. However, the United States will not comment on any specific bilateral discussions in this regard.”
AFP commented that this seems to indicate that the Biden administration has no intention of adding fuel to the fire on this issue. Price’s statement that he “will address any efforts to evade sanctions” was not explicitly directed at Iran’s dealings with China.
The New York Times has previously commented that the deal could deepen China’s influence in the Middle East and weaken U.S. isolation of Iran. But with the U.S. dispute with Iran over its nuclear program still unresolved, it is unclear how much of the deal could be implemented.
Price added, “It is well known that the factors that define our relationship with China are competitive, but in some cases we need strategic cooperation on certain narrow areas.” Iran happens to be one of those areas. He said China has shown cooperation in curbing Iran’s nuclear program. He sees “no interest for Beijing in Iran developing nuclear weapons because it would have a very destabilizing effect on the region on which China depends.”
China was among the major powers, along with the United States, Russia, Germany, France and Britain, that signed a deal with Iran in 2015 to prevent it from embracing nuclear weapons. The deal allowed international sanctions to be lifted in exchange for Iran’s commitment, but Trump returned it to its original status in 2018 and then tightened all U.S. sanctions.
Biden had promised to return to the deal, but only if Tehran should also return to its commitments. Iran has called on Washington to take the first step toward lifting sanctions. U.S. officials say the two countries could take concerted steps to bring Iran into compliance with the terms of the deal while the United States phases out the sanctions. Iran has refused to do so, and China has expressed support for that. Iran has demanded that the United States act first to lift unilateral sanctions that stifle the economy and restore the deal it broke.
Ned Price noted that the United States and China share common interests as the signatories seek a way to salvage the Iran nuclear deal.
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