Strategic Assessment

This article examines China-Iran relations following the nuclear agreement with Iran and the lifting of sanctions, from the perspectives of politics, economics, and security. To this end, it assesses a variety of Chinese interests in the Middle East on both an inter-power and regional level. In the economic realm, many challenges involved in developing the bilateral relationship remain, while in the military and defense realm, the improvement in relations has yet to mature into concrete cooperation or a signed arms deal. As for Israel, China’s support of Iran – as manifested in Chinese assistance with Iran’s nuclear development and the rescinded sanctions, as well as defense exports and the mutual aspiration to weaken the United States in the global arena – is at odds with Israel’s national security interests. Since Israel possesses no direct leverage on China with regard to Iran (and with regard to Chinese diplomacy in general), Israel might turn to the United States in the hope that Washington would become a proxy of sorts, and an indirect lever of influence.