Iran Welcomes Chinese Defense Minister, Seeks Closer Military Cooperation

Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe met with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and armed forces chief Mohammad Bagheri in Tehran on Wednesday.

The Iranians pledged their support for mutual ally Russia despite worldwide condemnation of its attack on Ukraine and indicated a desire for more extensive military coordination with China.

Wei said his visit to Tehran “reflects the importance of China-Iran relations and firm mutual support and joint progress” amid the “current turbulent international situation.”

“The Chinese military is willing to maintain strategic communication with the Iranian side, make good use of the cooperation mechanism, and promote practical cooperation, so as to push the relationship between the two militaries to a higher level,” he said.

“We are ready to cooperate with Iran to respond to challenges and all kinds of risks through joint efforts, protect mutual interests, and ensure regional and global peace and stability together,” Wei said.

Raisi told Wei he values Iran’s “strategic and important” relationship with “like-minded” China, and desires closer cooperation against American “unilateralism.”

Bagheri claimed “the West’s expansionist and supremacist policies are the root cause of growing security crises in the world,” and only “interaction and cooperation among the independent countries that are opposed to unilateralism” can stabilize the planet. He evidently did not explain how the United States is responsible for Iran’s ally Russia savagely attacking Ukraine and causing the greatest global security crisis of the decade.

China and Iran’s chatter about “unilateralism” and “Western hegemony” are code phrases for Western concerns about Chinese and Iranian human rights violations, and in Iran’s case, anger at America for trying to stop Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons. 

Wei’s meetings with Bagheri and Raisi had overtones of Iran realizing that not even President Joe Biden is willing to rejoin the Barack Obama nuclear deal on the absurd terms Iran is demanding, so a closer relationship with the Beijing-Moscow axis is desirable. China has resolutely supported Iran’s nuclear deal demands, even as they soared far beyond the price a desperate Biden administration was willing to pay for resuscitating the deal.

Iran might also wish to hedge its bets on military supplies, since its primary supplier Russia is facing tough international sanctions, and frankly the Ukraine invasion has not been a great advertisement for the quality of Russian equipment or tactics.

There are other good reasons why Iran might be looking for a new best friend in Beijing instead of Moscow. While it has not been willing to break with Russia over the Ukraine invasion, Iran has been ever so slightly more critical of the invasion than utterly silent China. In short, Iran says it does not like the Ukraine war but blames NATO more than Russia for starting it.

Iran should be nervous about Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s reckless aggression because Russia has a history of using proxies to stir up trouble to distract from its failures and atrocities and might expect Iran to do something provocative to turn the world’s attention away from Ukraine. Iran is not making enough money from its disappointing trade with Russia to compensate it for picking fights on Moscow’s behalf.

On the other hand, Russia does not want Iran to cause too much trouble, because it is counting on Iran to be part of the sinister network that helps Russia evade crushing sanctions. For example, Russia’s interests would not be served by Iran going nuclear and causing a regional security crisis that damages Russian interests while bringing a stronger American and European presence into the Middle East. 

Iran and China formed a joint military commission in 2016 and signed a 25-year strategic cooperation pact in 2021. The pact guaranteed China a supply of Iranian oil at heavily discounted prices, in exchange for military cooperation and Chinese assistance with developing Iran’s shipping, telecommunications, and banking infrastructure.