Biden’s concern on Iran-China deal justified as it accelerates US decline: Shamkhani

Iran’s top security official has reacted to US President Joe Biden’s expression of concern over the Iran-China Comprehensive Strategic Partnership agreement, saying Biden's concern about the deal is justified becasue it  will accelerate the decline of US power in the world.

“Biden’s concern is correct: the flourishing of strategic cooperation in the East is accelerating the US decline,” Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani wrote in a tweet on Monday.

The reaction came hours after Biden was asked by reporters how concerning the emerging partnership between China and Iran was, to which he replied: “I’ve been concerned about that for a year.”

Iran and the US are at loggerheads over the fate of the 2015 nuclear agreement Tehran struck with six world powers, from which the US withdrew in May 2018 and slapped harsh economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic under a so-called maximum pressure policy.

Biden has pledged to rejoin the nuclear deal, formally called the JCPOA, and repeal his predecessor’s maximum pressure policy, but he has failed so far to honor either of his promises.

Signed on Saturday, the strategic partnership deal between Iran and China also comes while the three European parties to the deal – Britain, France and Germany – have only played lip service to their obligations under the JCPOA, namely protecting Iran’s economic interests as promised in the nuclear pact.

Pointing to the developments surrounding the JCPOA, Shamkhani said the world is not limited to the West and that Western countries are not limited to the “law-breaking US, Britain, France and Germany.”

“The signing of Iran & China Strategic Partnership Roadmap is part of the #ActiveResistance policy,” he noted.

The signing of 🇮🇷&🇨🇳Strategic Partnership Roadmap is part of the #ActiveResistance policy. The world isn't just the West & West isn't just the lawbreaking🇺🇸🇬🇧🇫🇷🇩🇪.
Biden's concern is correct: the flourishing of strategic cooperation in the East is accelerating the US decline.

— علی شمخانی (@alishamkhani_ir) March 29, 2021

'Similar agreements with other nations'

Since it was signed by Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, the partnership roadmap has been hailed by top Iranian officials and deemed very important by foreign media outlets.

Iran’s ambassador to Islamabad described the Iran-China partnership deal as a model that can be used between Iran and other nations.

This document isn’t against any third country but it can serve as a model to guide relations between Iran and other countries, Mohammad Ali Hosseini tweeted on Monday.

Hosseini, a former foreign ministry spokesman, explained that the most important fields of cooperation in the document, which was inked on the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Tehran and Beijing, are industry, transportation, energy, and technology.

According to the document, the most important fields between the two countries are industry, transportation, energy, and technology.
This document isn't against any third county but it can be presented as a model between the Islamic Republic of Iran and other countries. https://t.co/rVDYXf5S8x

— Seyed Mohammad Ali Hosseini (@HossainiSma) March 29, 2021

‘Clear pathway’ in health cooperation

Kianoush Jahanpour, the spokesman of Iran Food and Drug Administration (IFDA), said the agreement will be a clear pathway toward Iran-China cooperation in the health sector and a turning point for similar agreements with other countries and their health sectors in the coming years.

“The articles related to healthcare and medical education in the Iran-China strategic cooperation document, which was signed by the two countries’ foreign ministers yesterday, will be a bright pathway toward cooperation between the two nations and a turning point for similar agreements with other countries and their health sectors in the coming years,” Jahanpour twitted  Sunday.

He also attached a part of the agreement to his tweet, which included strengthening of bilateral cooperation based on the two countries’ memorandum of understanding on fighting the coronavirus and other viral diseases.

The document contained “strengthening of cooperation in the field of research, transferring of health technology, health system, health education and cooperation between [Iran and China’s] medical schools through defining projects and areas of cooperation based on the Belt and Road Initiative.”

It also included cooperation with the aim of meeting the two countries’ pharmaceutical and medical equipment needs.

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