China and Iran near trade and military partnership to defy US

Defying US, Iran and China have quietly drafted a sweeping economic and security partnership that would clear the way for billions of dollars of Chinese investments in energy and other sectors. It is undercutting the Trump administration’s efforts to isolate the Iranian government because of its nuclear and military ambitions.

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Key-Points

The partnership would vastly expand Chinese presence in banking, telecommunications, ports, railways and dozens of other projects. In exchange, China would receive a regular and heavily discounted supply of Iranian oil over the next 25 years.

The document also describes deepening military cooperation, potentially giving China a foothold in a region that has been a strategic preoccupation of the United States for decades. It calls for joint training and exercises, joint research and weapons development and intelligence sharing.

This would clear the way for billions of dollars of Chinese investments in energy and other sectors, undercutting the Donald Trump administration’s efforts to isolate the Iranian government because of its nuclear and military ambitions.

It represents a major blow to the Trump administration’s aggressive policy toward Iran since abandoning the nuclear deal reached in 2015 by President Barack Obama and the leaders of six other nations after two years of gruelling negotiations.