Iran and China signed a 25-year economic deal on Saturday, which liquidated much of Iran’s wealth and resources, as well as the “forfeiture of the Caspian Sea”, to China in exchange for a $400 billion investment into various sectors.
Little is known about the deal, which has been in talks since 2015, but even the small amount made public is so damaging that Iranian officials are comparing it to the Turkmenchay Treaty when the Qajar monarchy gave up much of their northern territory to Russia.
MP Hassan Norouzi said: “During the negotiations, the government agreed to forfeit Kish Island [an economic centre in the Persian Gulf] to China for 25 years.”
Even the little that China is paying for the resources will be mitigated by a reported two-year delay in payments, as well as the ability to pay in the Yuan, rather than the dollar. Iran is not getting a good deal, but the government is. The deal will help keep the mullahs in power after even the appeasement policies of Western powers were not enough to protect the Iranian economy, which is why they negotiated it.
Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said: “The mullahs only think of preserving their own religious fascist dictatorship, which [regime founder Ruhollah] Khomeini said is the most important issue. He said they could even forsake the precepts of Islam to preserve the regime. Therefore, the mullahs could not care less about protecting the Iranian people’s assets and resources.”
Iran has no domestic production infrastructure, while any money earned from the export of natural resources, like oil and gas, is spent on ballistic missiles, nuclear projects, terrorist groups, and domestic repression. It’s a system designed to help the rich grow richer and keep the poor impoverished.
The Iranian opposition, People’s Mojahedin Organizaton of Iran, in this regard wrote: “The Iran-China deal will weaken an economy that is already on the verge of total collapse. Iran’s people are already dealing with skyrocketing prices, rampant inflation, and an unbridled coronavirus outbreak. The situation has left the people in utter outrage of the mullahs’ regime. Under such circumstances, instead of dealing with the country’s economic woes, the regime has decided to wholesale Iran’s resources to a foreign power.”
One thing is clear. This is an unpopular deal has angered people, and led to protests across the country.
