Iran Looking to Better Friendship with China
Iran Wants to Be Better Friends with China; Hu Likely to Reciprocate
Iranian president Mahmud Ahmadinejad has decided to use the framework of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation as a means to gain leverage against western pressure to cease its nuclear enrichment program and support for terrorist organizations that target the West and its Middle Eastern allies.
MehrNews has more on the details of the latest Sino-Iranian engagement . . .
Chinese President Hu Jintao thanked Iran’s President Mahmud Ahmadinejad on Wednesday for making efforts to reinforce ties between the two countries.
“Beijing is interested in strengthening comprehensive ties with Tehran,” Hu told Ahmadinejad.
. . . Ahmadinejad also referred to centuries-old ties between the two ancient countries and said, “The Islamic Republic of Iran is interested in developing ties with China.”
The Iranian president said since the SCO summit last year both China and Iran have witnessed great successes and the trade volumes between the two nations have increased.Currently the annual trade ties between Iran and China exceeds 10 billion dollars.
The Chinese leader held talks with Ahmadinejad last year on the sidelines of the SCO conference in Shanghai.
“I have a very good memory from last year’s meeting,” the Chinese president noted.
An improved alliance between Iran and China could prove troublesome for Western diplomats, particularly the United States, which has sought to isolate Ahmadinejad’s ruling regime. Among other things, China would have to chose between the United States and Iran over U.S. efforts to stop Iran’s uranium enrichment activities and today’s announcement that it seeks to declare Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a terrorist group.
Such a classification would make for a whole host of complications those parties deepening their involvement with Iran, like China and Russia. Bloomberg reports . . .
The U.S. is preparing to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, an arm of the country’s security forces, as a terrorist group to block financing and prevent others from doing business with it, an official said.
The U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because an announcement hasn’t been made, confirmed a Washington Post report today on the planned designation. The corps, which would be named a “specially designated global terrorist,” operates its own companies and provides investment capital for others, terrorism-finance experts said.
. . . Inclusion on the list, which is compiled with and maintained by the U.S. Treasury Department, blocks assets of a group and anyone who supports it. The U.S. is seeking to stop what it says is Iranian help to insurgents in Iraq and Afghanistan while pressing the United Nations Security Council for tougher measures against the country’s suspected nuclear arms program.
While McCormack said regulatory restrictions prevent him from discussing the matter, he said the U.S. strategy is to “raise the cost to the Iranian government” for behavior hostile to American interests. Treasury spokeswoman Molly Millerwise declined to comment.
. . . The Revolutionary Guard’s commercial activities are worth “hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars,” said Victor Comras, a consultant on U.S. sanctions who ran the State Department’s sanctions programs during the Clinton administration.
. . . “They are sending a signal that, if you deal with these people, then you’re dealing with terrorists, and that could have an impact on your dealings with us,” Comras said. The action also may fuel a movement among states and public pension funds to sell their shares in companies that do business in Iran, he said.
Iran is seeking full fledged membership in the SCO, which would afford Tehran a host of new diplomatic and security tools to use in its ever-widening offensive against Western security interests.
Ironically, ABC Radio out of Australia reports today that Chinese nationals have been arrested in Iran for spying.
Iran says it has arrested two Chinese nationals for spying on military and nuclear facilities.
A spokesman for the judiciary says the two have been detained while taking photographs of a military complex in the town of Arak, in central Iran.
Tehran is building a controversial nuclear reactor near Arak.
Observers say this is the first time Chinese citizens have been accused of spying.
Could all of this goodwill simply be a case of holding your friends close, and your enemies even closer?
