The Iranian regime’s relations with China, Russia and Iraq

The Correspondents’ Club today looks at Iran’s relations with Russia, China and Iraq as the Iranian regime celebrates the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution on Saturday February 11. Pariah state under international sanctions , Iran can count on several friendly countries to continue financing itself.

Good trade relations with China

Beijing has been Tehran’s biggest economic partner for more than 15 years and the two countries have developed their economic and trade relations despite US sanctions.
Not to mention a honeymoon, relations between Beijing and Tehran have improved considerably since the coming to power of new President Ebrahim Raisi. In the economic field, beyond the Silk Roads, there is industry and hydrocarbons. Similarly, Iran has increased its oil exports to China despite US sanctions. Beijing has been Tehran’s leading economic partner for fifteen years now.

Strong military cooperation with Russia

Since February and the multiple waves of sanctions that have affected Russia, Moscow and Tehran have been making a significant rapprochement. As we know, Russia and Iran are cooperating in Syria in the fight against Daesh and in keeping Bashar al-Assad in power. The Iranians have delivered drones to Russia and this partnership is intensifying. A drone construction factory should soon open in Russia and in return Moscow has agreed to deliver combat aircraft to Tehran. In January, during a telephone conversation, Vladimir Putin and Ebrahim Raisi said they were in favor of a coherent materialization of mutually advantageous projects in the energy, transport and logistics sectors.

A pro-Iran political alliance in power in Iraq

Billions of dollars flow every year from Iraq to Iran. It must be said that Iraq is controlled by a pro-Iran political alliance which has control over the majority of commercial banks and ministries. Successive Iraqi governments have worked with Iran to help it circumvent US sanctions. Crossing points between Iran and Iraq are also notoriously known to be places of smuggling with the help of border officials and currency traders. And then there is the money that disappears from the coffers and is transferred abroad. We are talking about more than 150 billion dollars in oil revenues since 2003 or 2.5 billion dollars in tax revenues evaporated at the end of 2022.